J1 Mid Life
by miss37
Summary: This is another of my old CSINY fics. Mac is having a mid-life crisis. Begins at the end of season 7 of the show. Mac is trying to figure out what direction he wants his life to go.
1. Chapter 1

**Mid Life**

As he walked down the street, he wondered where his life was going now. He was trying to figure out what he wanted to do in life. All he had been able to think about when his mind was idle the last few days was when that guy held that gun to his head. If that gun had not jammed, Mac Taylor would not be walking down this street now. All his co-workers knew there was something bothering him. He had solved the last case that was on the edge of his desk. It was his last unsolved case, and he had chased it all the way to Georgia. That had not turned out very well, but he had found that little girl and got her back where she belonged.

Mac lived pretty far from the precinct, but he had a lot of thinking to do so he would walk home. He remembered fighting that guy. It was pouring down rain, and the man was strong, bigger than him. He had gotten the best of him and picked up that gun. Mac had stared into the barrel of the gun, thinking that a bullet was going to be the last thing he ever saw. But the gun had clicked and would not fire. He had taken his opportunity then and jumped the guy while he was distracted.

Mac felt almost numb after that. He had felt like he was in a dream since then. He listened to the music that was playing in the street speakers. It was that song "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone". He remembered when he heard that song before. He and Flack had been down in the sewer looking for Hollis Eckhart. He had been wounded in a shooting spree at his office building and his wife had been killed. He had been going around killing people thinking that they were the ones he held responsible for his wife's death.

Mac remembered when they were going through that sewer and that song kept playing over and over. "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone…" He thought it was ironic that he and Flack were the ones searching through there. Flack had lost Angel before he really got to know her. He had lost Claire so suddenly, he barely remembered the last thing he had said to her. He had been lonely since then. He just could not seem to love anyone else. The closest he had come to that was with Peyton. She had broken his heart though.

He watched the people around him. Couples were walking hand in hand, laughing together. He remembered when he and Claire used to do that. She loved walking in the city and looking at the sights, even though she had grown up in New York. She loved life and she made him happy and made him feel like he was alive. He wondered if he had really felt alive since then. He hid in his work to keep from thinking about it.

His work. What about that? Did he really make a difference? Was he really accomplishing what he had worked so hard to get that degree for? He had stood over too many dead bodies in his lifetime trying to figure out what happened to them, how they died and tracking down the person who killed them. He was walking away from that right now. He was not sure he was going back. He had to clear his head and find out what he wanted in life.

Mac remembered that case when they had found those three women that that doctor had paralyzed from the eyes down. He remembered sitting and talking about Claire then. That case had really brought him face to face with Claire's death again. They never knew who that woman was. He hated the fact that they could never figure that out. He had put the one responsible for her death behind bars.

Mac remembered Aiden. She had died trying to prove that D.J. Pratt had raped a woman twice. There was no evidence to prove it until he had attacked Aiden, and she left a clue that let them know. She had known all along that he did it. Mac had known he did it, but they had no proof. They had no way of knowing that it was Aiden's body in that car until Sheldon did a comparison. He could not forget how cold he had felt inside. He had not known that Aiden was still tracking that guy after he fired her.

As Mac walked down the street, he thought over his life the last few years. He had buried himself in his work and had not let anyone get close to him. He thought maybe it was time to change that. Of course, he did not have anyone in mind. He thought maybe he should just go out and see whom he could find. How does anyone meet in the first place? He supposed he could go and sit in a bar or he could go to the beach the next day. Maybe he should just go to a movie. What movie? He was not sure that was what he wanted to do.

Mac reached his apartment after about an hour of walking around thinking. He changed into a sweatshirt and jeans. He was not going to sit here in his apartment. He wanted to be out doing something. He had to figure out what he would do about his job, about everything. Maybe he would take a vacation and clear his head and figure out what to do next. Everyone needed a vacation sometime. He had not taken a vacation in years. That was about to change. He had to have something in life besides that crime lab.

Mac went outside and began jogging even though he had just walked all the way home. He liked jogging at night. It was relaxing and the weather was cool. He thought as he jogged. He could still see the barrel of that gun, waiting for that bullet to come out. He could hear the click of it as that guy tried to blow his brains out. He had to admit it had rattled him. It had "scared" him. He had been shaking inside when Danny and Don came out on that roof. He had remembered it when they went after that guy in Boston. He had been cold inside then, but he had ignored that feeling and went on.

Mac remembered when he and Don Flack had been in that explosion. He remembered waking up in that pile of rubble. He did not remember the bomb exploding. He supposed the concussion of the blast knocked the memory away. He had woken up confused for a few moments until he remembered that they had found a bomb in that building. He supposed it had exploded since the building was in ruin and he was lying under rubble and ink from a copy machine. The guy they had found in the building was not hurt much, but then he had found Don with half his guts ripped out by the blast. That had brought him memories of being in the war. Don had survived however.

Mac finally jogged back to his apartment and just fell asleep on the bed. When he woke up the next morning, he got a shower and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. He was going for a drive today. He wanted to get out of this city for a while. Maybe he was having a mid-life crisis. Was it a crisis for one to evaluate their life and see where it was going? He did not know if he wanted to turn in another direction or not.

As he drove out of the city, he passed by a car dealership. Mac turned into the lot. He saw a car out there that he might like to have. What did he need an SUV for? He was not working right now. He never drove it to work anyway. He usually took a cab. He had not spent any money for pleasure in a very long time. He would buy himself a sports car. He had no family so he did not need a big vehicle. There was a red convertible out there that looked good to him, but then again, he did not want to shock anyone too much if he went back to work. He would get one with a top. Then again, he could pull the top up. He wanted something to drive that he could enjoy nature when he was out on these excursions.

Mac drove off the car lot in a red Corvette convertible and went to register it, get insurance and a tag. He was sure he would get some looks from the others, but oh well, he would do what he wanted. It had been a long time since he did what he wanted. He always thought he had to be serious and keep everything bottled up inside. He supposed he did at work, but not when he was away from that office. He drove on out of town and got on a country highway. He smiled as he felt the power of the car's engine. He thought it would be just fitting with everything he had been going through if he ran into a cop out here and got a speeding ticket. He supposed he would make front page news: "Crime Lab Head Gets A Speeding Ticket". Mac chuckled at that thought. He turned the radio on and found some loud music. He did not want to think about work or going back. He was going fishing! Then again, fishing was quiet, too much time to think! He wanted to do something loud and rowdy. He supposed there were no concerts going on this time of the day. He did not want to go to a bar. He supposed he could go and play tennis.

Mac finally came to a town and they had a park with a tennis court and an arcade, pool hall, bowling alley. He was going to have fun today. He went to the tennis court first, making sure he locked his car when he got out. There was a tennis machine out there so even if he did not have a partner, he could play anyway. However, as he was walking in to rent his tennis racket, there was a woman there. "Hi," she said. "You need a partner?"

Mac looked at her. She had blond hair and bright blue eyes and she was very attractive. "Sure," he said.

The woman smiled and offered her hand. "I'm Carla," she said.

"Mac." He shook her hand and smiled.

"You play a lot of tennis?"

"Not really, but I intend to start playing more often."

"So, why haven't you been playing?"

"Work. I've been living in my work and having no play."

"Oh, you know what they say about that."

Mac smiled. "Yeah, and it's true." Was he dull? He supposed he was a little serious but not dull. There was nothing wrong with being serious. It was just the way he was. He did not intend to change that, but he intended to start having more fun.

They went out onto the court. "You better be up to your game," Carla said with a smile. "I'm going to give you a run for your money."

Mac smiled as he watched her walk to the other side of the court. She was wearing a short, white tennis outfit. He could get used to seeing that. He got ready as he watched Carla get ready to serve. Then he was engrossed in the game. He found that he was a little rusty, but he soon got his edge back and had fun.

After their game, they met at the net. "That was a great game," Carla said. "Much better than playing with the machine."

"Absolutely," Mac agreed. "Better in more ways than one."

Carla smiled at him. "That's quite a line."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should have lunch."

"I don't have a thing in the world to do."

Carla's smile brightened. "You do now, honey."

Mac smiled as they headed back to the sports center. Maybe his life was going to change after all. Life was not all about work, after all.

When Carla saw Mac's car, she was impressed. "Wow, this is some ride," she said.

Mac smiled. "Glad you like it," he replied. "So, where's a good place to eat here?"

"According to what you like."

"I could go for a big juicy burger."

"Mmmm, you're making me hungry."

They got into the car and headed out. Carla showed him a good restaurant to go to. They went inside and got a table. Mac knew Carla was a lot younger than him, but he was trying not to care. "So, how old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty-five," Carla answered.

Mac felt like he was robbing the cradle now. "What about you?" Carla asked. "Although, I don't think age matters much."

Mac looked out the window. "Well, I'm almost twice your age," he said.

"You don't look it. I like older men anyway."

Mac wondered what her father would say. Then again, she probably did not live with her parents. "Are you sure you want to be seen with a guy my age?"

"Absolutely. I like your eyes."

Mac smiled his shy smile. "Why?"

"Because they're sincere."

Mac looked at her. "Thanks."

Soon, their food arrived. Mac liked a hamburger with plenty of onion. He looked at Carla. "I hope I don't gross you out," he said.

"I'm sure there's plenty of mouthwash," Carla said with a smile.

"I'm sure."

As Mac ate, he watched Carla. He had to admit she was very attractive. It was not like him to pick up strange women. He thought he must be having a mid-life crisis. He was doing things he would not normally do. He had heard of people having a mid-life crisis. They usually went skydiving or some crazy thing. Here he was picking up a woman…a very young woman. He supposed the people who did the skydiving and all that were the ones who had a significant other. He stared at Carla. He was definitely not wanting to marry a woman that young. Why was he here with her? Was he trying to fulfill some fantasy? He was pretty sure she could fulfill any fantasy he had. Mac could not believe he was thinking that. He was definitely up to something.

Carla looked at him. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

Mac bit his lip. He wanted to say "something I shouldn't", but he did not say that. "Just thinking," he said.

"So, what do you do, Mac Taylor?"

"I'm the head of the crime lab in New York. Right now, I'm wondering if I want to continue doing that."

"Wow, that must be a demanding job."

"It is. I'm trying to decide what I want in life."

"And you're not married?"

"No."

"Divorced?"

"No." Mac told her about Claire and what had happened in the last few days. "I just think I need to change something in life. That's why I bought that Corvette out there."

"You just bought that on a whim?"

"You might say that. I really wanted it though."

"You must have a big nest egg."

"I haven't really bought anything just because I wanted it in a long time."

Carla leaned on the table. "You just need something to make you feel better," she said. "I think I know some things that will help."

Mac looked at her. "Like what?"

"You'll see. When we're done here, you can take me to my place so I can change and then we'll go somewhere and have some fun."

"I wanted to go bowling," Mac said. "And play pool and all that."

Carla smiled. "Sounds good to me, but there's a carnival over in the next town and I think we could have loads of fun over there."

"We probably could."

"Why don't we spend the day playing here and then we'll go there and play tonight?"

Mac looked at her, a smiled playing with his lips. "You've got it," he said. He leaned forward a little. "I like what you have on."

Carla's smile brightened. "Don't worry, I'll wear something you'll like just as much."

"Great."

They finished eating and then went to Carla's house. "Is this yours?" Mac asked as he looked at the small, brick house.

"Yes," Carla replied. "I wanted a house of my own so I bought one. Still paying on it of course."

Carla unlocked the door. "You can come in and wait for me. You can use some mouthwash, if you'd like." She smiled at him over her shoulder.

"It might be good if I did," Mac replied.

They went into the house. "I'll be right out," Carla said.

Mac sat down on the couch to wait for her. He looked around the living room which was furnished well. There was even a piano there. He thought this house probably did not have more than two bedrooms, but it was cozy. Carla soon came back dressed in blue denim shorts, and they were "short" too, and she had on a light blue tank top. "You ready?" she asked. "Oh, come here and I'll show you where the bathroom is."

Mac followed her down the hallway and to the bathroom. "Thanks," he said. He closed the door and blew out a breath. What was he doing? He was definitely attracted to that woman. He looked in the mirror. He was beginning to wonder if he really knew that person in the mirror. He had hidden in his work for so long, he had lost himself. Who would think that one could lose himself in his work? That had been his goal, and he thought he had accomplished that. Maybe Carla could help him find himself again.

When Mac was done in the bathroom, they went downtown to The Game Room. Mac was surprised when they walked in. They had a bowling alley and everything that Mac wanted to do. "So, do we bowl first?" Carla asked.

"Sure," Mac replied. He had not bowled in years. He could hardly believe how much time he had wasted being depressed and hiding from everything, thinking that he could not have fun. He found that Carla was a great bowler. In fact, she beat him at it.

Mac put his hands on his hips. "You didn't tell me you were so good at this," he said.

Carla laughed. "You didn't ask," she said.

"I guess I didn't, did I?"

Carla walked over to him and squeezed his arm. "Maybe we can make a bet," she said, giving him an alluring look.

"Like what?" Mac asked.

"If I win, you spend the night with me instead of going back to New York."

Mac stared at her a moment. He did not know what to say to that. "We just met," he said.

Carla looked him up and down. "I like what I see," she said.

Mac cleared his throat. "What if I win?" he asked.

"You can decide for yourself." She held out her hand. "Deal?"

"I don't know if that's fair. You're a better bowler."

"You might find your game."

"Why don't we play pool while I think that over?"

"Sure."

Carla headed for the pool tables. Mac watched her a moment. He had to admit he was tempted. He went on over to the pool tables. "I'll break," Carla said, as she put chalk on the end of the cue.

Mac took a cue off the wall. "I'm ready," he said.

Carla came around to that side of the table and took the rack from around the balls and set the cue ball down. She made sure Mac was behind her when she bent over to break the triangle. Mac knew what she was doing. He had not been twenty-five in almost as many years, but right now, he was feeling like twenty-five. Carla broke the triangle and then smiled at him as she got ready to take her next shot. She knew she was trying to tempt Mac. She did not care how old he was, she liked him. He treated her with respect and talked to her with respect.

Mac realized that Carla was a good pool player too. "Do you play pool a lot too?" he asked.

"I like it," Carla replied. "I guess I kinda grew up around places like this. I like competition." She walked over to him. "Have you made a decision yet?"

"Not yet."

They finished their pool game and then went back to bowling. Carla picked up her pink bowling ball and then looked at Mac. "Well, are you ready?" she asked.

Mac looked at her a moment. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said.

Carla offered her hand. "Shake on it?"

Mac shook her hand. He could not believe he was making a bet like that, but he wanted to. He watched Carla bowl her first strike. He thought he might be too distracted to bowl. What was he doing? They would go to the carnival tonight and then…what? He did not want to think that far ahead. He took a bowling ball off the rack and got ready. He was a pretty good bowler, but right now, he was very distracted by Carla. However, he did well, but he did not get a strike.

Carla was triumphant once again. She walked over to Mac. "I guess that seals your fate for tonight," she said.

Mac did not know what to say. He could not believe he had gotten himself into this. "What if I change my mind?" he asked.

"I don't think you will."

They went on to the carnival, since they had been at The Game Room most of the afternoon. It was getting chilly outside now. Mac put his leather jacket on and Carla had brought a sweater. Mac figured people would think he was there with his daughter. Would he always feel this way if they kept seeing each other? He did not think they would keep seeing each other. He figured this was just a whim and they were both lonely.

"Let's ride the Ferris Wheel," Carla suggested.

Mac looked up at the Ferris Wheel. "Sounds like fun," he said.

They went over to it and paid their tickets. Mac had not ridden a Ferris Wheel in a very long time, but he still enjoyed it, although it made him so dizzy, he thought he would throw up. When they got off, Mac felt like he was still going around. He stumbled a little. "Whoa," he said. "I guess it has been a long time since I rode one of those."

Carla laughed. She held his arm. "Come on, let's go get some cotton candy."

"Cotton Candy after that?"

"Yes!"

They went over to one of the stands that sold cotton candy. They got one each and headed over to the games. "Let's see how strong you are," Carla said as they came to the "Strong Man" game.

Mac smiled. "Oh, I don't know about that," he said.

"I think you're a big, strong Marine, and I want to see." She took his cotton candy.

Mac paid the attendant and picked up the hammer. He had done this as a young man, but that was a long time ago. He swung the hammer back and landed it on the right spot. The bell rang. Carla laughed. "I knew you could do it," she said.

"So, what do you want?" he asked.

Carla looked at the stuffed animals. "Hmmm," she said as she studied them. She saw a teddy bear dressed in a military uniform. She smiled. "I'll take that one."

Mac smiled at her choice. Carla held his arm as they walked away. "Now, I'll have something when you're not here."

They left the carnival at around 11. Mac yawned as they got into the car. "Wow, I don't think I have ridden that many rides in one night," he said.

"I love the rides," Carla replied. "I also love the cotton candy."

"I did too until it came back up."

Carla laughed. "You screamed worse than me on that death fall."

Mac chuckled. "Well, I don't think I like falling," he said.

"It scared the cotton candy out of you."

"Hey, now you're just making fun of me."

"Oh, I would never do that." Carla looked at him with a smile. "You're much too sweet for that."

Mac wondered if she was going to hold him to that deal they made. He pulled into her driveway and parked. He finally looked at her. "You coming?" she asked.

Carla got out of the car and Mac watched her walk to the porch. He reluctantly got out of the car and went up on the porch. Carla opened the door and they went in. She locked the door and then turned to Mac. "Are you nervous?" she asked.

"You might say that," Mac replied. "I'm not very inclined to do something like this."

Carla walked closer to him and put her arms around his neck. Mac could smell her sweet perfume as she moved closer to him. He let her kiss him. He knew he was getting himself into something because he was tempted and full of desire. "You have great lips," Carla whispered.

Mac stared into her blue eyes as she caressed his neck and rubbed his chest. She kissed him again and they lingered this time. Mac found himself not wanting it to end. He slid his arms around her waist. Was he really going to give in to this? He wanted to. He pulled away for a moment. Carla kissed his neck. "Are you sure we should do this?" he asked.

"Oh, yes," Carla replied. She moved to his lips again.

Mac finally gave in. He did not have to let anyone else know about this…it was only one night…it had been a long time…


	2. Chapter 2

Mac came out the door of Carla's house. He could not believe what he almost did; he almost slept with a woman he barely knew. He was going back to New York where he belonged. So what if he buried himself in his work? He was putting his shirt back in as he walked to the car. Carla came to the door. "I'll see you around," she said.

Mac looked at her. She was dressed in a light purple negligee. "So long," he said and got into the car.

Mac felt like he had been living in a dream the last two days, but he was back to reality now! He did not see anything wrong with his life. He was going back to it and he did not care to carry any baggage with him. He knew he did not want a serious relationship with that…well, he wanted to call her a girl. She was a girl to him. He was almost twice her age. That was not the kind of relationship he wanted. He blew out a breath as he got out onto the highway again. He could not let himself do something stupid.

Mac wondered how many men Carla had brought home with her like that. She seemed to be looking for one and he had almost let her lure him in. He had not been thinking right, but he was now. He had even bought this car…he liked the car. He would keep that.

Mac got back to his apartment at around 2 am. He was tired. He walked in and flopped on the bed, glad that he was back home. He thought he needed to take a shower so he got up and did that before he got into the bed. He was going back to work in the morning…

When the alarm came on the next morning, Mac could tell he had been up all night. He felt like he had not slept at all, but he got up anyway. He was sure everyone would be curious about his new mode of transportation, but he did not care. At least he could have something to make him feel younger. He drove to the precinct and went inside. Everything was like normal, with prisoners and people all over the place. Don Flack was at his desk talking to someone. He waved to Mac.

Mac nodded. Everything was like it should be. He sighed as he thought of last night. He wanted back into the normal way of things. He walked out of the elevator at the lab. It was quiet, but just as he was going by the lab door, Danny Messer came out. "Morning, Mac!" Danny said, much like he did every morning. "Didn't expect to see you this morning."

"Why?" Mac asked.

"I thought you were…well, Jo said you were going to be gone a few days to sort things out."

"Oh, she did? Well, you tell Jo that…"

"Tell me what?"

Mac and Danny looked around to see Jo standing at the corner holding a pile of folders like usual. She tilted her head and stared at them. Mac turned to her and Danny went on with what he was doing. "I'll tell you what," Mac said as he walked over to Jo. "Don't be trying to dictate my life and tell me what I need to be doing, and furthermore, don't ever try to send me home from a crime scene again."

Mac headed on to his office. "Just a minute," Jo said.

Mac turned around and looked at her. "You wanted to say something else?" he asked.

"I sure do." Jo walked up to him. "I sent you home because you were working yourself to a frazzle and never getting any rest. I did it because I care about you and I know that even the mighty Mac Taylor has to have rest or he is going to ruin his health and be in a lot of trouble."

"Why don't you let me worry about that? I have been taking care of myself for a long time."

Jo just stared at him a moment. "What are you so upset about this morning?" she asked. "You're taking it out on me."

"I'm not taking anything out on you!" Mac declared. "Stop trying to read my mind and stop trying to be my psychiatrist! I don't need you to tell me what to do."

Jo watched Mac walk to his office. She knew he was having some kind of trouble inside that he was not willing to discuss. She had not known him long, but she knew him well enough to know when he was brooding about something. Danny came out of the lab. "So, what's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know," Jo replied. "But I intend to find out."

"I'd give that up if I were you. If Mac doesn't want to talk about something, there's no one in this world who can get him to talk about it…except maybe, Stella."

Danny watched Jo walk to Mac's office. He knew Mac would not tolerate that much longer. He did not like someone butting into his personal feelings. Jo walked into the office. "Just where to you get off talking to me like that?" she asked.

Mac glared at her. "Like I said before: I'm the head of this crime lab and I think that entitles me to do what I want," he said.

"Oh, sure it does, unless you're doing things that disrupt this lab."

"What am I doing that disrupts this lab? I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but you're not focused."

Mac sat down. "I'm just as focused as anyone else around here."

"No, you're not."

Mac rubbed his face. "I'm not going to argue with you," he said. "Just go on about your business and leave me alone."

"Fine. I will for now, but we're not done talking about this."

"That's your favorite line, isn't it?"

"Maybe it is when it comes to you."

"Another thing…"

Jo turned back around and looked at him. "What's that?"

"When you're working in the lab, you don't need to wear so much jewelry," Mac said. "It could contaminate the evidence."

Jo stared at him a moment. "That is none of your concern," she declared.

"Yes it is. I 'am' your boss, whether you know it or not."

"Oh, I know it alright, but I don't think you know half of what's going on around here."

"I know more than you think."

"Talk to you later."

Mac watched Jo walk out of the office and head toward her own office. He supposed he was a little irritable with her, but he was tired of her telling him what to do. He had tried to be nice all this time because she was a new person around here, but now, he was tired of it. He did not like the way she always acted like she knew everything about him. She did not know anything, and she would never know what he did last night. He could not believe that himself. He was glad he had come to his senses before he did something he would have really regretted. He hoped he never met Carla again.

Mac rubbed his face and leaned on his forehead. He thought he was about to get a headache. After all, he had not slept much last night and he was tired. However, he would not let anyone around here know it. He had worked without sleep before. He went to the lounge and got a cup of coffee and went back to his office. There was a ton of paperwork on his desk. He supposed someone around here had figured he was coming back since they left all this for him. He started on the paperwork and got his mind off everything else.

A while later, Jo walked by Mac's office again. She looked in at him with one of her haughty looks. He just stared at her and went on with his work. He did not have time to play games with her. She would submit to authority or she could go back to Virginia. He had never had that much trouble with Stella. He dropped his pen on the desk and turned around to stare out the window. He knew what was bothering him. It was still the same thing that had been bothering him for the last few days. He knew he would not be sitting here if that gun had not jammed. He could still see the barrel of that gun, and he knew that was the reason for his actions yesterday and last night. He was trying to escape from that fear. He would just have to overcome it.

"Mac!"

Mac turned around and realized Jo was standing in the doorway. "What?" he asked.

"We have a call. Are you coming?"

Mac almost glared at her, but he tried to be polite. "Yes, I'm coming," he replied. "How come it didn't come over my phone?"

"I don't know. Maybe they got the idea that you wouldn't be here for a few days."

"And where would they get that idea?"

"I guess a little birdie told them."

Mac stood up and walked past Jo, who fell into step behind him. She liked aggravating Mac. It showed another side of him besides that hard shell he tried to wear all the time. He wanted to pretend that nothing bothered him, but she knew that run-in he had on that rooftop had scared him. He would never admit it though because he was too full of pride. Jo intended to get through that hard shell and get close to the root of the problem.

Mac pressed the button for the elevator. Jo could tell he was steaming inside. She just wondered what had gotten him so hot under the collar. She knew it was not anything she did. He had disappeared two nights ago and no one had heard from him until this morning. She wanted to know where he had been. She supposed she was nosey, but it was her nature. If someone was bothered by something, she wanted to know what it was.

Mac shifted on his feet and rattled the change in his pockets while he waited for the elevator. He finally looked at Jo. "You might as well stop standing there trying to figure out what's wrong with me, because I'm not going to tell you," he declared.

"I didn't say anything," Jo said.

"But you're thinking it. You think you're going to figure out what my problem is. You're always butting in."

"I can't help it if I'm nosey, and I also can't help it if I care about you."

Mac grumbled as he went into the elevator. He would be irritable if he wanted to. Jo was smiling as she walked into the elevator. "What's so funny?" Mac asked. "I don't see anything funny."

"I'm not laughing," Jo replied, barely able to stifle her laugh.

"You're smiling. You think you're getting to me."

Jo did laugh then. "You're pathetic," she said.

"I know."

"You mean you admit it?"

"Yes, I admit it."

The elevator doors opened and they walked out into the parking garage. Jo stopped in her tracks when she saw the car Mac was getting into. "No wonder you're on edge," she said. "When did this happen?"

"Don't worry about it," Mac said. "Just get in." He put the forensics kit into the trunk.

They got into the car and headed for the crime scene. "This is a nice car," Jo said. "Not exactly your style, but nice."

"And just what do you think is my style?" Mac asked. "A station wagon?"

"Not exactly, but definitely not this."

"Well, maybe my style is changing."

"You're having a mid-life crisis. I've seen it before."

Mac leaned on his hand propped on the door. "I think my life is going nowhere," he said. "All I have is my job."

"Well, you made it that way," Jo replied.

Mac looked at her. "No, I didn't."

"Well, let me rephrase that. You let it happen after you lost Claire because you won't let anyone close to you."

"I tried that once."

"Oh, Mac. You fall off the wagon, you get back on."

"I didn't fall off the wagon."

"You went over a bump in the road."

"It was more than that."

"I don't know everything that you've been through, but I know you can't just give up."

Mac sighed. Had he given up? He did not think he would ever find happiness. He figured he would grow old alone. He could not have Claire back and he did not want anyone else. He supposed that sealed his fate. He would do this job until he got too old and then he would move into a Home, or maybe he would buy his own home. He had never owned his own home. He wanted to know what that was like. Maybe that was what he would do next. He had a nice apartment, but he wanted a house. Carla was only 25 and she already had her own house. He was not sure how she had obtained that. He was glad he did not become one of her notches.

Mac and Jo arrived at the crime scene. Mac blew out a loud breath as he got out of the car. He opened the trunk and got the forensics kit. Jo was waiting for him and they walked over to the crime scene together. "Morning, Mac," Don said. "I thought you were going…"

"To be out a few days," Mac finished. "Yeah, I know. Some people think they know everything I'm doing and they don't know as much as they think."

Don absorbed that a moment. "Okay, well, we have a female victim, twenty-five. She has a New York driver's license. Her name is Carla Frederick."

Mac stared at the driver's license that Don was holding. He could not believe it. It was Carla. He should have stayed out today because now, he would either have to go on and act like he did not know this victim or he would have to take himself off the case. If he did that, he would have to tell the others how he knew her. "Mac!" Jo said, bringing him back to the present. She put her hands on her hips. "Are you coming or are you going to stand there staring?"

"Yes, I'm coming," Mac said.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Don't ask me that again."

Mac walked over to the victim. He almost wanted to turn around. It was Carla alright. Her blue eyes were staring up at the sky and she was still wearing the purple negligee she had been wearing the last time he saw her. He did not think anyone would figure out that he knew the victim. He squatted beside her along with Jo. "Looks like she was stabbed," Jo remarked as she looked at the wounds on the victim's chest. "Multiple times."

"Yeah," Mac agreed. He looked at the victim's hands. "Looks like she might have scratched her attacker." He looked at Carla's hands. He had enjoyed spending time with her the day before. They had a lot of fun playing the games and walking around at the carnival. He tried to get his mind off that to keep Jo from getting suspicious. She watched him like a hawk and thought she could read his mind. He did not want to give her something to read.

"You finish this," Mac said. He walked over to Flack. "Who found the body?"

Don pointed to a man who looked like he had been drinking all night. Mac looked at Don. "Seriously?" he asked as he noticed the guy was in cuffs.

"Yeah," Don said. "Can't even walk a straight line, but he called in this victim. He says he was walking by and saw her lying there, so he called nine-one-one. His name is Jimmy Wise."

"Wise?"

"Yeah. Maybe he should think about that."

"Do I really need to talk to him?"

"I don't know. He's not so drunk that he didn't know to call, but he was weaving around out here, public drunkenness, you know."

Mac walked over to the guy. "Jimmy Wise?" he asked.

"Yeah," the man answered. "Is this what I get for calling in a murder?"

"Even if you call in a murder, you can't break the law."

"So I found the girl."

Mac swallowed. Girl. Even this guy called her a girl. "Did you see anyone around here?" he asked.

"No, just her."

"You didn't see any cars?"

"No, there was no one here around her."

"What time did you find her?"

"I don't know, Man. It was almost daylight."

"How long was it before you called?"

"I don't know. I wanted to make sure she was dead before I called. I yelled at her a couple of times and then I found a phone. I thought she might have been passed out."

Mac nodded. "Thanks."

"Hey, can't you get me out of here? Don't I get something for helping you guys?"

"Maybe. Maybe you won't have to spend any time in jail for public drunkenness. Have you never heard of a cab?"  
"Whatever, Man."

Mac walked back over to the victim…Carla. He stared at her a moment. Jo noticed how he was staring. She walked over to him. "Are you having problems with this case?" she asked.

Mac looked at her. "No," he said. "Did you find anything else?"

"Doesn't look like she was sexually assaulted. Looks like someone just stabbed her and threw her out here."

"So, that leaves a primary crime scene."

"Yeah. We'll have to find out where she lives."

Mac felt cold inside. He knew his fingerprints were going to be in that house…he had opened the door when he left, and he thought they might be on the bedroom door too. Jo stared at Mac. "I know you know something you're not telling me," she said.

Mac looked at her. "I don't have to tell you everything I think of," he said.

"You do when it's something that makes you look so pale."

Mac frowned. "Let's just get to work," he said. "Are you done with the victim?"

"Yes."

Mac turned the victim over to the ME and went over to Flack. "Cut that guy loose and give him a stern warning," he said. "If he's caught like that again, he'll be spending the night in jail."

"Alright," Don replied.

Mac turned to leave. "Hey, Mac," Don said. "Nice wheels."

Mac looked at him. "Thanks."

Don smiled. He wondered where Mac had been the last two days too, but he would not pry. He had never seen Mac driving a sports car. He supposed everyone was entitled to a little self-indulgence once in a while. He walked on over to the guy who found the body.

Mac got in his car and Jo got in. "So, what do you know about this victim?" Jo asked bluntly.

Mac glared at her. "I told you to stop trying to get into my head," he said.

"I'm already there, Mac, and you know it. If you know something about this victim, you should tell it now."

Mac could not lie about it, but he was not obligated to tell her anything. "Drop it."

"I don't think you need to be on this case."

"That is my decision, isn't it?"

"Not if you're involved somehow."

"Involved? What? Do you think I killed her?"

"Of course not, but I think you know her."

"Whatever."

Mac drove back to the precinct. He was not going to tell anyone anything. Maybe he would lift the prints and not let anyone know if he found his own. He knew they were there, and he did not think anyone saw him at that house. Then again, a red Corvette was an eye-catcher. He knew someone must have seen that car and they might have even seen the tag number. He sighed as he came from the elevator and headed to his office. He knew he would eventually have to tell Don Flack where he was and what he had been doing and he would be a suspect whether Don wanted him to be or not. He went out for one night of fun and it turned into a disaster. He thought maybe he should never try to do anything fun unless he was by himself. That way, he would not be getting into trouble.

Mac gave the forensics kit to Lindsey to analyze the nail scrapings and anything else they had found at the crime scene. He would have to go down and see Sid to see what he had found too. He went on to his office to wait for the results of the tests while he wrote some on his report about the crime scene. It was not long until he saw Jo coming from the elevator. He wished he could hide somewhere so no one could find him for a very long time. However, if he was not here today, he would not know that Carla had been killed and he might really look suspicious.

Jo came to Mac's office. "So, are you ready to talk yet?" she asked.

"About what?" Mac asked.

"Oh, come on, Mac. Are you going to keep playing this game?"

"I'm not playing a game."

"You looked like you had seen a ghost when we got to that crime scene. You need to tell what is going on now instead of waiting until we find out something."

"I don't have anything to discuss with you."

"I'm sure you will later."

Jo turned and left the office. Mac glared at her as she walked to her office. He did not have to explain anything to her. He sighed. He would eventually have to say something. He knew they were going to find something of his at that house and then his reputation would be out the window. They would know that Mac Taylor had a weak moment and almost did something stupid. He rubbed his forehead. He was starting to get a headache again. He wrote all he could and then went back to the lab.

"Lindsey, did you get anything?" Mac asked.

"There wasn't enough DNA to make a determination," Lindsey said. "If she scratched her attacker it wasn't enough to get a sample."

Mac nodded. "Okay. Anything else?"

"No. Unless Sid found something on the victim, we don't have much to go on."

"I'll go see."

Mac headed for the elevator. "Hey, wait up," a familiar voice called. Mac just kept walking. He did not want to hear her analysis of his psyche again. He would face his own problems. He pressed the button on the elevator.

Jo walked up beside him. "Going down to the morgue?" she asked.

"Yes," Mac replied. He had hoped he could do this himself. He hoped another case would come along to take Jo off to someone else. He was beginning to compare her to a gnat in his mind. Gnats were annoying little things that were always getting in your face and no matter how much you swatted at them, they kept coming back.

"Maybe we'll find out something interesting about this victim," Jo commented.

"Maybe we will."

Jo narrowed her eyes at Mac slightly. She was sure he knew something about that victim and he just did not want anyone else to know it. She decided that she would not try to press him anymore. They would eventually find out. Soon, they were down to the morgue. Mac walked out first and walked over to the table. "Morning, Sid," he said.

"Morning," Sid replied.

"So, what have you got about this victim?"

"I have some sampled of DNA, most likely. Looks like she had been kissing someone and that someone had been kissing other areas besides just her lips." Sid gave Mac two swabs.

Mac swallowed. He knew whose DNA that would be. "Anything else?" he asked out of routine.

"She bled out," Sid said. "One of the stab wounds went right through the left ventricle of the heart. She was dead then, and it was a long-bladed knife. However, she was stabbed ten times." He gave Mac pictures of the stab wounds. "Wasn't a big blade, but a long one. There's no evidence of rape, but I did a rape kit anyway." He gave Mac another swab. "That's about it. There was not even any evidence that she had sex prior to death."

Mac stared at Carla. Who would want to kill her? She had been a nice woman. She might have been stepping on the wrong toes or she might have gotten into something with the wrong man. He remembered the fact that she had her own house. Maybe she had been blackmailing someone. He knew he must not be the first man she had brought there. He hoped she had not been filming anything or taking pictures.

"Are we going or are we going to stand here and see if she comes back to life?" Jo asked.

Mac realized he was staring. "Anything else, Sid?" he asked.

"No," Sid answered. He watched as Mac and Jo headed back to the elevator. Jo threw a look over her shoulder at Sid. She knew that he knew something was bothering Mac. Sid had no idea what was going on. He spent most of his time down here with the dead and the only talking they did was through evidence.

Mac waited impatiently for the elevator to come down. "So, what do you think?" Jo asked.

"I think she might have been a hooker," Mac replied.

"Why?"

"Well, you saw how she was dressed. Why would they kill her like that and dump her out there?"

"I don't know. Seems strange that they wouldn't just leave her at her home if they killed her there. By the way, her address is out in Middletown. We'll have to go out there to see if we can find the primary crime scene."

Mac knew they would…or he was pretty positive they would. He knew that was where he saw her last. "I'll call the authorities out there," he said.

"Good. You do that."

They got into the elevator. Mac was quiet on the way up and he went into the lab. "I'll analyze those, Mac," Lindsey said.

"Sure," Mac replied. He gave the swabs to her and went on to his office. He stared at the pictures of the stab wounds. Someone would have to do tests in the lab to see what kind of weapon was used. He supposed he could do that. It was conclusive evidence. No one could argue that it was not accurate. He took the pictures and went into the lab. He put on his lab coat and took out several knives that he could test with the dummies.

Lindsey was running the DNA tests from the swabs Sid had taken. "So, this woman was about to get intimate with someone," Danny said as he looked at the labels. "Wonder what interrupted them."

"Who knows? Maybe there's another body out there somewhere," Lindsey said.

"So, you think someone might have killed her and the guy she was with?"

"It's possible." Lindsey prepared the DNA sample she was working on and put it into the analyzer while Danny prepared the other. She looked at Danny. "Have you noticed that Mac is acting strange this morning?"

"Mac?" Danny asked. "He's always a little peculiar anyway."

"Danny, he is not. He seems like he's preoccupied or something. He didn't even tell me anything about the case when he came in here."

"Maybe he's not feeling well."

"He does look a little pale."

"Maybe that's it then. Maybe he went out partying the last two nights."

"I don't think it would take him that long to get over it. Besides, Mac is never like that."

"First time for everything." Danny finally got his DNA sample done. "This was from the victim's neck and chest."

Lindsey put the sample into the analyzer. "Don't talk about it," she said. "I'm sure if I died, someone would find your DNA on me somewhere, but that wouldn't mean that you killed me."

"Right." Danny considered that. "So, you think she might have played around with someone and then someone else killed her?"

"It's possible. I guess we won't know until we get these DNA results back."

"Yeah, but whoever's DNA that is, is going to be the prime suspect, because their little rendezvous might have been interrupted by a long-bladed knife."

"You have quite a way with words."

"Good. Maybe when I get that promotion, I'll be your boss and then everybody around here will have to do what I say."

Lindsey smiled. "Is that what it's all about?" she asked. "Being the boss?"

"Nah, not all, but it's definitely about making more money."

"We could use that."

"Yeah. The older Lucy gets, the more money it will take to keep her in clothes."

"To tell you the truth, I don't think small clothes are any cheaper than bigger ones."

"That's strange though. How can you charge the same price for a little shirt like hers as you would charge for one your size?"

"Why don't you ask someone who knows more about it than me? But I would assume that it is harder to make children's clothes than it is to make adult clothes. My mother used to sew Barbie clothes from a pattern, and the seams were so small! I could never do that."

"Barbie, huh? I don't get why girls have to have so many clothes for their dolls. When I had a G.I. Joe, he only had one uniform. He was just a doll. Why would he need to change clothes?"

"Danny, girls are different. We're practicing for when we grow up and have to decide what to wear, and we're practicing for when we have a baby."

Danny chuckled. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not."

"Okay, so when Lucy is playing with her dolls, she's preparing for something?"

"Oh, Danny, just forget it."

"I can't now. You shouldn't have let me in on that little secret."

Mac was experimenting with the knives in the lab when Jo walked in. "Need any help?" she asked.

Mac stared at the stab wound he had put in the dummy so far. "I haven't found the right knife yet," he said. "Maybe you can see something I can't."

"Maybe I can. Sometimes it takes a person on the outside looking in to see something that the person on the inside can't see because they're trying to see out."

Mac frowned. He knew there must be some kind of logic to that, but he did not have time to figure it out right now. He just went on with his investigation and did not comment on that. He knew everything would come to light soon anyway and there was nothing he could do about it…


	3. Chapter 3

As Danny and Lindsey got their DNA samples done, Mac and Jo were leaving the lab to go out to Middletown, along with Don Flack. Mac did not want to hear those results yet. He knew what it was anyway. They had to get out there to that town and that house. He took the Avalanche this time. He did not want to drive that red Corvette over there to let someone see it who might have seen it the night before. He knew how those small neighborhoods were…they always had someone who was always watching everything.

Lindsey took the results for the DNA analysis from the machine. She stopped in her tracks as she stared at the results of the comparison. "This can't be right," she said.

"What?" Danny asked. He took his analysis out too.

Lindsey stared at the paper another moment and then looked at Danny. "What does yours say?" she asked.

Danny looked at her a moment. "I think you already know," he said.

"You're kidding."

"Well, let's make sure we're talking about the same thing first."

Lindsey showed Danny her results. "Yeah, we're talking about the same thing," he said.

Lindsey looked at Danny. They were both thoroughly shocked. "What do we do?" Lindsey asked.

"For now, we're keeping this between us," Danny replied. "We'll talk to Mac first. So what if he had a little fun last night?"

"Danny! This is not about that. This woman was murdered. You know Mac will be a suspect if we hand this in."

"We can't hide evidence."

"I know that, but we don't have to let this leak out everywhere. This would embarrass him."

Danny considered that. "He should have told us earlier that he knew that woman," he said. "That must be what he's been brooding over all day."

"She was so young. I didn't know Mac had a type like that."

"Hey, he's human like everyone else."

"Yeah, but she was young enough to be his daughter."

Danny snickered. "I know it's not funny, but it's funny to think of Mac playing around with a woman that young. You think he's been seeing her a long time?"

Lindsey did not know what to think. "No, I don't," she said. "I think he has been going through a lot lately and he just went out for some fun."

"How did he meet this woman? How did he know her?"

"I guess that's something he'll have to explain." Lindsey hated this for Mac. She knew how private he was about everything, and this would totally embarrass him.

Mac was on his way to Middletown. He had not said a word since they left the lab. Jo and Adam were riding with him. Of course, Adam could talk non-stop. Mac just sat there in another world not even really hearing anything that Adam or Jo were saying. He felt sorry for Carla and he wanted to find out who killed her, but he also knew that everything from her past was going to come out in this, and it would be known that he was there too. He could not stop thinking about that. Then again, he did nothing wrong. He was just as single as he would be if he was 25 years old, but he knew it would surprise everyone because he was with her. He knew they would know everywhere he had been with her too. He shook his head at himself. At least he had not been too far. Then again, how was he supposed to know that she would be murdered? He had met her on the tennis court…at least it was not a bar. It was not like he had been out there drinking and going wild.

Jo and Adam heard Mac blow out a loud breath. They knew he was thinking hard about something. "So, Adam, when was the last time you were in Middletown?" Jo asked.

Adam paused a moment. "I don't think I've ever been there," he said.

"I went through there once. I was just out driving. I like to take the kids on a drive once in a while. It's a nice drive out that way. I'll bet it would really be nice in a convertible."

"Yeah. I've always wanted a convertible. It would be fun to drive one along the coast and smell the salt air."

"It sure is, Adam. Have you ever been down South and visited the coast?"

"No."

"There's nothing like the coast of North Carolina. It's beautiful out there on those barrier islands."

"I've been to Florida."

"That's gorgeous too, but Hawaii has the most beautiful sights you can see, I think."

"Probably."

Jo looked at Mac. "Nothing like a convertible ride through the countryside," she said.

Mac was still staring ahead not paying any attention to what was being said in the truck. "Mac, wouldn't you agree?" Jo asked, but he did not even hear her. She shook her head. "You know, Adam, I think Mac is ignoring us."

Adam did not know what to say to that. He did not like crossing Mac. "I'll bet we could have a big fight right here in this truck and he wouldn't even know it," Jo said. "Maybe we should just have SEX in the back seat," she said a little louder.

Mac finally glanced at her and realized she was talking to him. "What?" he asked.

"What?" Jo mocked. "Is that all you can say?"

"I didn't hear you."

"Well, I was talking loud enough for Adam to hear me." Jo looked around at Adam. "You heard me, didn't you?"

Adam was still trying to get over the shock of what she said. "Yeah, I heard you loud and clear," he said.

"I'm sorry," Mac said. He knew she was just trying to get under his skin again.

"Well," Jo continued. "I asked him wouldn't it be nice to take a ride out here in the country side in a convertible."

Mac frowned. He knew what she was getting at. "I guess it would," he said.

"I also told him you probably wouldn't even notice it if we had sex in the back seat."

Mac looked at her. "That's not funny," he said.

"I didn't say it to be funny. I was just trying to bring you back into reality."

"I am in reality. I am tired of you trying to analyze me."

"Somebody needs to."

"That's your opinion."

"Hey," Adam interrupted. He almost lost his nerve when Mac looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Uhm…do you want me to drive? You two could talk this over if I was driving."

"You don't know where we're going," Mac said.

"Well, we have a map. Do you know where we're going?"

Mac glared at him. "If I didn't know how to get to this town, I wouldn't be driving," he said.

"Yeah, but it makes me nervous when people are arguing and one of them is driving."

Mac blew out a breath. "I'm done arguing," he declared.

"He's just on a short fuse," Jo said, wanting to put salt in the wound. She knew if she kept on, Mac would spill the problem.

Mac looked at her. "Why don't you shut up?" he asked.

Jo's mouth dropped open. "I can't believe you said that," she said.

"Why not? I want you to stop talking, and asking you nicely doesn't work, so now I have resorted to telling you to shut up."

Jo folded her arms. "Well, that is just rude, especially since we work together."

"And I'm your boss, so stop trying to analyze me. I'm just thinking. I wonder why anyone would kill that girl."

"She was a little more than a girl."

"Woman, then. Is that better?"

"Sure. I don't know why anyone would want to kill her." Jo took a file out. "We have a list of acquaintances that we can check out while we're out here."

"Good. You can do that while I investigate the house."

"No, I think we need to do that together. It might be a big house."

Mac knew she was trying to get him to say something he did not want to say. She tried to charm information out of people. "Fine, we'll do it together." Mac knew he was going to have to come clean about this whole thing. He was tired of this situation. He should have just stayed at the precinct and let someone else come over here. He was here now though and he could not go back.

When they reached Middletown, they went to the police department to let them know they were there. The detective at this department did not know Mac, and Mac knew he would have a lot of explaining to do when they discovered his prints in that house. He still wanted to know who killed Carla. He could not remember anyone suspicious who was around them during the time he was with her. He did not notice anyone watching or following them. No one had talked to her while he was with her. He had not learned enough about her to know anything that would lead them to a suspect either.

They went out to Carla's house with two police officers and a detective from the local police department. They found the door slightly ajar. Mac drew his weapon, along with the others. They went into the house and found it empty, but there had definitely been a struggle and they found where the murder had taken place. Not to mention, someone had ripped every video tape in her living room out and had taken DVD's from the case and they were scratched and cut into pieces. She had obviously been stabbed in her bedroom. Jo stared around the room. "My goodness," she said as she looked at the blood spatter on the ceiling and walls.

Adam took in the scene as well as Mac. Mac almost felt sick. He did not know of any reason for something like this. Carla was obviously into something that was more dangerous than she knew. She had not told him anything. "Well, we might as well get started," Mac said.

They began their process of the house, along with the detective from the local precinct. Mac looked in the closet. He found a small filing cabinet with only two drawers in it hidden in the back of the closet. It was also locked. Mac took the lock kit from the forensics kit and picked the lock. He was shocked at what he found. It was DVD's and they were labeled with names. Mac stared at them all. He thought there must be at least forty in there filling both drawers. He thought she must have been recording things that people would not want other people to see. He had almost gotten himself into that too. He shook his head and stared at the DVD's. He knew he had been right now; she had been luring men to her house and blackmailing them. He thought this must have been the motive for murder.

Jo came over to the closet and shined her light in at what Mac was looking at. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

"Looks like she's been playing the harlot," Mac said. "Unless this is something else."

"Well, if you think about what she was wearing, this would make sense."

Mac nodded. "We need to get all these and figure out who all these people are and see which one would resort to murder rather than let his indiscretions be known."

"Right. Whatever those indiscretions are."

Jo went to get an evidence bag. Mac looked at some more of the DVD's. Then he found one with his name on it. He stared at it with wide eyes. He put it in his pocket and waited for Jo to bring the evidence bag back. He knew he could get into serious trouble for hiding evidence. He would put it in the bag after she was away from here. Jo brought the bag and Mac began putting the DVD's in. When Jo got away from the closet, Mac slipped the DVD with his name on it into the bag. He hoped he could keep anyone from seeing that. There could not be much on it, but he did not want anyone to see anything. He could not believe he had been that stupid. He should have known there was something wrong with that. He had been a cop for years and he fell for something like that. He almost got himself into being blackmailed. He would watch these DVD's himself in his office. There was no need for anyone else to see them.

They finished processing the house and went out to the Avalanche. Adam went to the local precinct to sign out the evidence so they could take it back to New York. They would share the evidence as well. Mac knew what was coming when that evidence was analyzed. He and Jo were about to go and question some of the neighbors. "So, we know that she had a lot of visitors," Jo commented as they were walking out to the truck.

"Apparently," Mac agreed. He put the evidence into the truck and they got in. "Let's see what some of these neighbors have to say."

Mac drove over to the next house and he and Jo got out. Mac could see someone looking out the blind. "I think we're being watched," he said.

"I think you're right," Jo replied.

"I'll bet this one saw something. Why don't you go to the next one so we can make this quicker?"

Jo thought Mac was just trying to get away from her, but she decided to cooperate this once. "Okay," she said. "Why don't I go to the one across the street?"  
"Sure."

Mac watched Jo go to the other house. He did not know if that was better or not. He went on to his destination and started to knock on the door, but someone opened it. An old woman opened the door. She stared at him a moment. "You're a cop," she said.

"Yes," Mac replied. He showed her his badge. I'm Detective Mac Taylor."

She peered at it through her glasses, then she looked at Mac. "Beatrice Fortner. I wouldn't have thought you were a cop," she said.

"What do you mean?" Mac asked.

"I saw you over there last night."

Mac frowned and swallowed. "Yes, you did, unfortunately. Did you see anyone else?"

"She always had someone over there. She was a prostitute, you know."

Mac shifted on his feet. "No, I didn't know it," he replied.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone I saw you over there. I know you didn't kill her because I saw you leave in that red Corvette."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I guess you came to your senses."

"Did you see anyone else?" Mac asked again.

"Yes, I saw a man come up over there probably an hour after you left. I don't think she was expecting him because he knocked. She is usually waiting for them, and then when she opened the door, he just walked in."

"Did you hear anything?"

"I thought I heard some noises over there, but I wasn't sure what it was."

"And what time was this?"

"Around Midnight."

Mac wrote that down. "Could you recognize the guy if you saw him again?"

"It was pretty dark, but he was driving a truck like yours, only it was white."

Mac looked at the Avalanche. "You mean, a white Avalanche?"

"Yes. That truck is unmistakable."

Mac wrote that down. "And you couldn't tell anything about the guy? Was he carrying anything?"

"No."

"Did you see him leave?"

"No. I went to bed. I figured she was having another of her flings anyway." The old woman stared at him. "You should keep better company, young man."

Mac almost smiled at that remark. He did not remember the last time he had been called 'young man'. "Yes, Ma'am, I should and I intend to be more careful from now on." He looked at his notes. "Did the guy who was there look like anyone who had been there before?"

"Oh, yes, I had seen that truck before, more than once."

Mac wrote that down. "How many times would you say he was there?" he asked.

"I don't know, but it was several."

"Did you ever hear them arguing?"

"No."

"Did he ever come there during the day?"

"No, always late at night."

"So, you don't know how long he stayed last night or any other time?"

"No, but I'll bet I know someone who does."

"Who might that be?" Mac asked.

Beatrice pointed across the road. Mac looked toward the house and saw Jo standing at the door talking to another old woman and they were looking that way. Mac looked at Beatrice. "So, she watches everything?" he asked.

"Yes," Beatrice answered. "I'm sure she saw you come and leave and I'm sure she saw that man come and I'm sure she knows when he left."

Mac thought this was probably enough to clear him…except for being there. He would have to tell his story to the others. He knew that. He would tell Flack and he could make notes of it and get it out of the way. He certainly did not have to explain anything to Jo. He was sure Jo already knew he had been there. He dreaded that conversation, but he knew it was coming. She was always curious about everything, but what else made a detective besides curiosity. He was always curious about things he did not understand or that he saw going on.

Mac looked at Beatrice. "Thank you, Ma'am," he said.

Beatrice smiled. "You're welcome." She leaned toward Mac. "I'd be more careful from now on."

Mac nodded. "Thanks."

Mac turned and walked off the porch. He knew someone would have seen him here. Jo was coming that way from the other house. She walked up to him. "We have a lot to talk about," she said.

"No, we don't," Mac argued. "I don't have to discuss anything with you. I have plenty of information."

"But you're getting off this case. Do you know what it would do to this case if you stay on it and people find out that you were with the victim last night? They could say that you fixed everything so it would look like someone else did it."

Mac stared at her a moment. "That is not true, and you know it. He showed her his notepad. This lady over here gave me a lot of information. She said she saw me leave and then later she saw a guy come up to Carla's house in a white Avalanche."

Jo tilted her head. "That's all something that you wrote down," she said.

"What? Do you think I made it up?"

"No, but other people around here do not know you."

"You don't either, you just think you do."

Jo folded her arms. "Okay, just be that way then. If you don't want to talk to me, you're going to have to talk to someone."

Jo walked away toward the Avalanche. "I made notes too," she said and held up her notepad.

Mac stalked back to the Avalanche and got in. "We better ask a few more," he said as he got in.

"I agree," Jo replied. "Maybe they all saw a red Corvette there at that house too, and it's peculiar that it was the very night of the day that you happened to buy one. And maybe they even got the license number like Mrs. Ross over there."

Mac glared at her. "I don't want to hear anymore. I don't have to explain my personal life to you."

"You're going to have to tell someone."

"Not you."

After they questioned a few more neighbors, they went and picked Adam up and headed back to New York. "I'm sure we're going to have to make another trip over here," Jo remarked. "Or at least, Mac will."

Adam did not know what she was talking about. "I'm sure we will," he agreed.

They arrived back at the lab after a long, quiet drive, except for the occasional discussion of the case. Mac did not feel like talking. He would talk to Don when they got into the precinct. He would tell him his part in this and get it over with. Don was wondering what all the silence was about as they walked into the squad room. Mac stopped at Don's desk. "I need to talk to you," Mac said.

"About what?" Don asked.

"About this victim."

Don stared at him a moment. "You don't have to tell me anything that you don't want me to know."

"There's not much to tell, but I know that…" Mac blew out a breath. "I know there is going to be evidence saying that I was…"

"Okay, Mac."

Mac showed Don his notepad. "This lady was a reliable witness," Mac said. "She told me what all she saw."

Don looked at the notes and then looked at Mac. "What else did she tell you?" he asked.

Mac sat down in the chair across from Don and looked toward the elevator to make sure Jo was going on. She was looking back at him but she went on into the elevator. Mac looked at Don. "This is a personal situation," Mac said.

Don got his notepad out. "Why don't you just write it down, Mac?" he suggested.

Mac considered that. "You're going to find out anyway."

"Yeah, but you don't have to sit there and tell me. Just write it down and I'll read it and no one else has to know."

"I'll make you a report about it."

Mac got up and went up to the lab. Danny and Lindsey were waiting for him. "Mac!" Danny said. "We want to talk to you."

"I know what you're going to say," Mac said. "It's true. I was with the victim last night." He was trying to keep his voice down.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Danny asked, in almost a whisper.

"I was embarrassed, okay? We just met at the tennis court. I didn't know she was going to be murdered, and I didn't know she was a…Do I have to say it? I had a moment of poor judgement."

Lindsey was shocked. "I guess we all have, Mac," she said. "What do you want us to do?"

"Just keep it down until I get this report written for Don." Mac looked at the evidence they had on the lab table. "Where is Jo?"

"She went to her office," Lindsey replied.

"Give me those DVD's."

"You can't hide them, Mac."

"I don't intend to, but everyone in this lab doesn't have to see them."

Danny got the bag and handed it to Mac. "It has already been entered into evidence."

"Good. I'm going to go through them and see if anyone on these has been to her house several times. According to one witness, some guy came there a lot in a white Avalanche."

"A white Avalanche?"

"Yeah, that's what she said. She saw me come there and she knew when I left and then she saw the victim let the other guy in about an hour after I left."

"So, that clears you," Danny said.

"Yeah, but it's all got to be sorted out."

"Right. What do you want us to do?"

"Just analyze the fingerprints and get everything in order. I'm going to tell Don my story and we'll go from there."

Danny and Lindsey nodded. "Sorry about this, Mac," Lindsey said.

"It's my fault," Mac said. "I did it to myself." He turned and walked to his office.

Danny and Lindsey went back into the lab. "It's hard to believe Mac fell for something like that," Lindsey said.

"He's been having a hard time," Danny said. "I didn't say anything before, but that incident on the roof of that apartment building really shook him up. He thought we didn't know, but he was scared when we got there. I don't think he even knew when Don and I arrived. He was almost frozen."

"So, what really happened?"

"The guy got the best of him and got his weapon. If the thing hadn't jammed…" Danny looked at Lindsey. "That would shake anybody up."

"Yeah."

Mac sat down in his office and began writing out a statement about his situation. He looked at the bag with the DVD's in it. He had to get busy on those. He would look and see if any of them had a lot on it. He wrote out the statement as clearly as he could, not leaving out any details. Just as he was about to open the evidence bag, Lindsey came from the lab and came to his office. "Mac, I thought you would want to see this," she said. "It's the fingerprint results from the house."

Mac looked at the results. "I knew mine would be there. I went there with her before we went to The Game Room. She wanted to change clothes before we went and then we went to the game room and played pool, we bowled and we went to the carnival over there in Newburgh. After that…"

"Mac, you don't have to tell me all this," Lindsey said. "So you had a date. Big deal."

"Well, when I go on a date, the woman doesn't usually wind up murdered."

"Sorry."

"I wasn't at her house long after that, but I was there, and I left and came back to my apartment."

"Did anyone see you arrive at your building?"

Mac considered that. "I don't remember seeing anyone. Of course, I was preoccupied, but I don't remember seeing anyone in the hall."

"Maybe someone saw you in the parking garage. Danny and I will go and find out."

"Thanks."

Lindsey went back to the lab. Mac opened the evidence bag with the DVD's in it, and just then, Jo came down the hall. Mac put the bag under his desk. Jo came into the office and folded her arms. "Are you ready to tell me how you got involved in this?" she asked.

"No," Mac replied. "I'm going to tell Don Flack. He's the only one who needs to know."

Jo sat down on the couch. "Mac, you didn't commit a crime by going out on a date," she said. "We just need to know when you got there and when you left. I think you need to date more often."

Mac stared at her. "That's not for you to decide."

"I know, but you need to have fun."

"I did have fun. I sure didn't know she was going to be murdered." Mac sighed. "If I had stayed longer, maybe she wouldn't have."

"Oh, come on. Don't start beating yourself up about that too." She leaned back on the couch. "I didn't know you liked 'em so young, Mac."

Mac gave her a tolerant look. "I don't usually date women that young, but we just met at the tennis court. I didn't know she was a prostitute."

"Well, we haven't established that yet. That's what that woman across the street thought though because she had men over all the time."

"Yeah, but that's just hearsay. We have to have proof."

"I think that evidence bag full of DVD's you're hiding under your desk is good proof."

Mac stared at her a moment. "Don't get cute with me," he said.

"I'm not. You know, maybe you should try someone more your age who wants a serious relationship."

"And you have someone in mind?"

"No, but why don't you check that out?"

Mac leaned on his desk. "Why don't you mind your own business?" he asked.

"I intend to." Jo stood up. "Hope you find something in that pile of DVD's."

"Maybe I will if you stop interrupting me."

"You're an impossible man. I would say that it's impossible to win an argument with you."

"Probably is. Why don't you stop trying?"

"Cause it's too much fun."

Mac watched Jo walk out of the office. He thought that woman aggravated him more than any he had ever seen. He remembered plenty of times when he and Stella argued, but he did not think it was ever as personal as what he and Jo argued about. He took the DVD out with his name on it first. He looked at the disc and it did not look like it had anything burned on it; if it did, it was very little. He had not been there long though. He put the disc into his computer and waited for it to come on. There was a little on it alright. Mac rubbed his face. He could not believe he was watching himself. It soon ended however. He did not realize it had lasted that long, but he was glad she did not get anything else.

Mac took the DVD out and looked through some of the others. She had one in particular that had quite a bit on it. He wondered why the guy would keep coming there if she was blackmailing him. Maybe this guy had fallen in love with her and found out that she had all kinds of men around her; she was unwilling to stop what she was doing, so he killed her. He was beginning to think that blackmail was not the point of all this. Maybe it was for some of them…he had to find out more about this.

Mac put the longest DVD into the computer next. He was shocked when it came on, although he had seen stuff like that before. He could not believe Carla had been doing all this. Why was she recording it? There had to be a reason for it, and if the guy was not being blackmailed, then why were all the video tapes and DVD's torn up in the living room? There had to be an explanation for all that. Whether it was about blackmail or not, the woman was murdered because of those DVD's.

Mac put another DVD in and watched basically the same thing that was on the other one. He wondered if she was getting money out of all these men. They had a lot of people to question. Mac shook his head. He was almost one of them. He wondered what would have happened if he had gone on with that and stayed there…he supposed she would have tried to blackmail him. He remembered her commenting about his money when she found out he drove a Corvette. She had lured him in and found out whether he had money or not. He almost laughed at that. He would not say he was poor, but he was no millionaire either. He just did not have anyone else to spend money on. When one did not have anyone but their own self to buy stuff for, they had plenty of money. He sighed. He would not care if he had to have a budget if he was not alone.

Mac thought maybe that guy was paying her and he had fallen in love with her and did not know she was a prostitute, but he should have known if he was paying her. He thought this case had more angles than a stealth fighter. Every time he thought he had a thought, something else made it not seem likely. Anyway, he wanted to find this guy with the white Avalanche. He wrote down the names of the men that Carla had on the DVD's so that Don Flack could run them and find out what kind of vehicle they had registered. That would give them something to go on if he found one with a white Avalanche. He did not think a truck like that was something that one would just throw away to keep it from being followed.

Mac got the list done and got his report he had fixed for Don Flack. He started for the elevator, but just as he was about to go that way, he saw the chief coming that way. Mac sighed. He knew what was coming. He was sure that other police department wanted to know why a detective from the New York police department had his fingerprints involved in this case and why he was working it. He would ask the same thing if he were in that position. He walked back into his office and laid his file back down on the desk. The chief came in and closed the door. He stared at Mac a moment and folded his arms. "I know you know why I'm here," he said.

Mac looked at him. "Yes, I know why you're here," he said.

"Mac, how could you do something like that?"

"I didn't know she was…"  
"I'm not talking about that. I don't care if you go out and play with a different woman every night. I want to know how your fingerprints wound up in this case and why you are working it."

"My fingerprints are in this case because I was with the victim last night, and I am working it because I did not know it was her until I saw her lying there dead."

"Why didn't you take yourself off the case?"

"Because I didn't want to explain how I knew her. We just met at the tennis court and we had lunch together and spent the day together. I was lonely. What can I say? I try to go out and have a little fun and look what happens."

"Nobody is blaming you, Taylor, but the chief from the Middletown police department called and wanted to know how my detective's prints wound up in his crime scene."

"Well, now you know. I have to take these things to Don Flack." Mac picked up his file.

"You don't know anything about what happened?"

"Of course not. If I did, I would have already told it. I didn't see anyone suspicious, I didn't see anyone hanging around. No one talked to us while we were together. I didn't know she was a prostitute."

"Mac, you're a trained detective. How could you not suspect something?"

Mac sighed. "I was having a hard day. I just wasn't thinking about that. I didn't want to think about work, and I didn't."

The chief shook his head. "Taylor, you're going to have to go over there and explain all this to that police department."

Mac nodded. "I know. I'll do it when I get through with this situation with Don."

"You better be careful. Don't analyze any evidence."

"You know I didn't kill that woman."

"Yeah, I know it, but other people don't know you like I do."

"I'm gonna find out who killed her. Even if she was a prostitute, she didn't deserve to be murdered like that. I know she was getting money from somewhere because she owned her own house."

"You think she was blackmailing these men?"

"I'm not sure right now. I don't really think that was the case though."

"What do you think the case is?"

"I'm not sure yet. We have to find out which one of these men has a white Avalanche. Someone saw a white Avalanche there after I was gone and they saw the victim let the guy in."

The chief stared at Mac a moment. "So, you're basically cleared already."

"Yes, sir. I was there, but I was not the last one seen there."

Just then, Jo came to the door. Mac let her in. "Are you guys talking about the case?" she asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact we are," Mac replied just a little testy.

Jo gave Mac her report about her notes. "This witness saw the guy with the white Avalanche come there after you were already gone and she saw him leave in a hurry."

"Does she think she would recognize him if she saw him again?" Mac asked.

"No, it was pretty dark."

"That's what Mrs. Ross said."

"You know that neighborhood is just full of senior citizens? And most of them are widows," Jo said.

"Well, we talked to some of them," Mac replied. "Only those two knew anything about it."

"My witness was Mrs. Pomeroy. Haven't heard that name in a long time. She got your tag number, but she didn't get the one on the Avalanche."

"Why not?"

"He had it obscured by something."

Mac considered that. "Then we have to find out which of these men has an Avalanche."

"I'll call that police department," the chief said. "I'll tell him we have witnesses that saw you leave and saw the other guy arrive."

"Thanks."

"But you still better be careful," the chief said, pointing his finger at Mac. "No slip ups."

"Yes, sir."

The chief walked out of the office and Mac followed him since he had to go downstairs. "Wait a minute," Jo said as she came out after Mac. "Don't I get an explanation?"

"My fingerprints were at the crime scene," Mac replied. "You know most of the story."

"Right."

Mac went on to the elevator. He was not about to let anyone see that DVD. There was nothing on it anyway…much. There was not much to tell anyway. He went down and gave the list to Don Flack. "I want you to find out which of those guys has a white Avalanche," Mac said. "That's the kind of vehicle that was seen there."

"So, you think she was blackmailing someone?" Don asked.

"I'm not sure," Mac replied. He gave Don his report. "That's the rest of the information. I think that someone wanted it to 'look' like they were being blackmailed by her and that's why they did all that to the videos and DVD's. I'm thinking this was about something else. They didn't even find the ones that were the real thing, and there was no search like someone had been looking for something. I think it was just made to look like it."

"So, you think someone else had a motive for murder and they knew about her little game," Don said. "This might take a long time."

"It might. I've certainly got time."

"I'll get on this, Mac."

"Thanks."

"And don't worry about this report. It won't go any further than it has to."

Mac nodded and headed back to the elevator. He knew this might be a hard case, but just because that guy was there later did not mean that he killed Carla either. Someone could have come up after he left that the two witnesses did not see. One might even assume that he himself could have gone back and killed her. Mac frowned. He knew his part in this was not over yet. That other police department would have their questions and I'm sure they would question those witnesses. He was sure they had seen him stuffing his shirt back in. One might assume that he did not get what he wanted and might have seen that other guy come there and he got angry and came after he left and killed her. He hoped maybe someone saw him at the apartment building and knew he came back to New York, because then it would be known that he would not have had time to go back.


	4. Chapter 4

Mac walked out of the elevator at the lab. He went into the lab and looked at the evidence. The DVD's and videos that were in the living room were totally destroyed. He did not think anyone could decipher what was on those. Whoever had destroyed them did a thorough job. Mac noticed a pink and white book with a small lock on it. He put on a pair of gloves and picked it up. It was a diary. There was a small key in the evidence, so he tried it and it unlocked the diary. He flipped the pages all the way to the last entry, which had been the night she died:

Dear Diary,

I met the sweetest guy today. He wasn't like the others.

He treated me with respect and

talked to me like I was actually pretty. His name was

Mac Taylor. He is from New York and he is actually

a police detective. If he knew what kind of life I have, he

probably would never come back and might even want to arrest me. I hope he comes back.

He was the nicest guy I've ever met. He didn't care about what he could

get from me. He just liked being with me…not to mention, he was a great

kisser and handsome, although he is a lot older. I hope he will come back…

I think he could get me to give up this life.

Mac felt almost numb again. He looked around to make sure no one was looking at him. He did not know that she took him so seriously. He looked at that line _treated me like I was actually pretty_. Mac could not believe she said that. He had thought she was very pretty. He could not understand why she thought she was not. He went back to the beginning of the diary and went to his office. He would read this and maybe he would find something in there that would lead to someone. Maybe she even had something in there about the guy with the Avalanche. He sat down at his desk and began reading…

Danny and Lindsey were at Mac's apartment building to see if anyone saw Mac come home the night before. So far, they had not had any luck. "Does this building have a security camera anywhere?" Lindsey asked, as they were talking to the Supervisor.

"Only in the hallways," the Supervisor replied.

"Then, there's one on the floor where Mac lives?"

"Well, there is, but that one has had a glitch in it the last few days and they've been trying to fix it, but it's taking time. We have about four that have glitches."

"You're kidding," Danny said. "Does it pick up anything?"

"You can watch the DVD and see. I don't know if it picked up anything last night or not."

"Give it to us. If it just picked up enough to let us know what time Mac came home that will be good enough."

"Sorry, but I didn't know what anyone was doing at two this morning. I was asleep. I had a long day yesterday. You might ask the desk clerk who was here last night and see if she saw him."

"Is she still here?"

The Supervisor looked at his watch. "She lives in ten-D. Marilyn Stanford. She won't be down here to the desk until seven tonight."

"Thanks," Danny replied. He wrote that apartment number down. "Anyone else or anything else that might have known when Mac got here?"

"No, not unless someone happened to see him."

Danny and Lindsey got the DVD from the hall Mac lived on and put it in an evidence bag. "You need to get that camera fixed," Danny remarked.

"I will," the Superintendant said.

Danny and Lindsey headed up to the floor that Marilyn Stanford lived on, the tenth floor. "Wow, this is a nice apartment building," Danny commented. "Maybe we should try to get a place here. Mac could help us."

"I don't think they allow children in this building," Lindsey said.

"That's cold."

"Well, it's their building. You know how children are. They write on the walls and spill things on the carpet."

"Carpet? There's no carpet in this building except in the halls. They have hard wood floors."

"Right."

They found the right apartment, and Danny knocked on the door. "You think she's up?" he asked.

"Probably not," Lindsey replied. "If I had worked until four this morning, I wouldn't be up right now."

"Well, I probably would, but I'm used to not sleeping so, that's different." He knocked on the door again.

Finally, they heard the chain slide in the lock and the door opened slowly. A woman was at the door who looked like she had just gotten out of bed. Her blond hair was unkempt and she was wearing a pink robe. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Marilyn Stanford?"

"Yes."

Danny showed her his badge. "I'm Detective Danny Messer, and this is Detective Lindsey Messer," he said. "We need to ask you some questions."

"What's this about?"

"You were at the reception desk at two this morning, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you see Detective Taylor come in at around two?"

Marilyn considered that. "I don't remember seeing him," she said. "I usually notice him when he comes in."

"Is that right?"

"Yes, he's very attractive, you know."

Danny stared at her a moment. "But you didn't see him come in this morning?" he asked.

"No, I didn't see him. Why? Is he in trouble?"

"We just need to know if someone saw him come in this morning at around two."

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember seeing him."

"Thanks."

Danny and Lindsey walked away. "I hope someone saw him," Danny said. "If they didn't, Mac will still be on the hook. They can say that he went back."

"We know he didn't," Lindsey replied.

"I know we know it, but other people don't know it and he'll be in trouble. That police department over there in Middletown will want some more information."

"What about the two ladies who saw Mac leave and saw the victim let the other guy in?"

"It doesn't matter. They don't know that the guy killed her, and besides that, they didn't see him bring the body out."

"That is a problem." Lindsey shook her head. "I'm worried about Mac. He's keeping to himself. He is embarrassed about this situation."

"Well, I would be embarrassed about it too. Can you imagine? The head of the crime lab running around with a hooker and he didn't even know it?"

"He wasn't thinking about that."

"Yeah, we all know what he was thinking about. That makes it even worse."

"Do you really think Mac wanted to…"

"Let's not talk about this anymore. It doesn't matter what he was doing, he's in trouble."

"Right."

They finally got up to Mac's floor and walked down to his apartment. Danny looked up and down the hall. "Surely someone around here was out in this hall and just happened to see him that night," he said.

"Is there more than one elevator that comes up to this floor?" Lindsey asked. "If there is, then just anyone wouldn't be coming down this hall because they would come out somewhere else."

"Right. Let's question some of these people and see what kind of folks live in the building with Mac."

Lindsey wondered what kinds of people they would find. She had heard of Don Flack's experiences going door-to-door. She hoped she did not meet any people who were 'too' strange…

Mac was still reading Carla's diary. He was shocked at some of the stuff he had read. She seemed to think she 'had' to do what she was doing. He wondered why she thought that. She seemed to think that she had to do what men wanted no matter what it was. Mac rubbed his forehead. He did not understand that. She was a beautiful girl and now she was dead, murdered by some guy that she did not even really know. He would find out who it was.

Mac heard something and looked up to see someone coming toward his office. He did not think he had seen that person before. He stood up and walked around the desk as the man approached the office. He motioned him in. "Can I help you?" Mac asked.

"I'm Joseph Frederick. Are you Mac Taylor?"

"Yes."

Mac had barely gotten the word out of his mouth before Frederick punched him. He knocked Mac backward from his desk, but Mac kept from falling down completely. However, Frederick was not finished. He came at Mac again and landed another punch before Mac got his bearings back. He grabbed the guy's fist as he tried to punch him again. He jerked him forward and pulled his arm around behind him. "What do you think you're doing?" Mac asked.

"You killed my little girl!" the man yelled. "You were with her last night!"

Mac was shocked. He looked at the man as he let him go. "You're Carla's father?" he asked.

"Yes, I am!" He tried to swing at Mac again, but Mac grabbed his arm again.

"You just calm down!" Mac yelled. "I did not kill Carla! Yes, I was with her, but not like you think! I didn't know she was…we met at the tennis court and we spent the day together!"

"They said the main suspect was you!" Frederick yelled as he tried to get away from Mac.

"If you'll calm down, I'll tell you what happened! You're not going to like what you hear!"

Frederick struggled but then he started to cry. "I was hoping she would come back home!" he said.

Suddenly, Jo came down the hall toward Mac's office when she saw what was going on. Mac put his hand up and shook his head. Jo stopped. Mac wanted to talk to this man. "Calm down," Mac said.

"Why should I believe anything you say?" Frederick asked as Mac let him go again. "They say you killed her."

Mac stared at him a moment. "I didn't," he said. He picked up the diary from his desk. "This is her diary. I can't let you have it yet, but when this is over, I'll give it to you and let you know her thoughts."

Frederick stared at Mac. "What were you doing with her?" he asked. "You're twice her age."

Mac sighed. "I know," he said. "I went to the tennis court and she was there. She asked me to play tennis with her and then we just went to The Game Room, we went to the carnival. I took her home."

"She might have been twenty-five, but she was still my little girl."

"I understand that, but…" Mac took his handkerchief and wiped the blood off the side of his mouth and nose. "You can't go around punching people especially cops."

"Why were you at her house?"

"She asked me in. There are some unpleasant things you're going to hear about your daughter, but I assure you that I was not the first man who was there."

"What are you saying?"

"Like I said, I'll let you have this diary after this investigation is over, but I assure you that we will find out who killed your daughter."

Frederick stared at Mac. "What did she say in the diary?" he asked. "Can't you tell me?"

"Not yet," Mac said. "You'll get this."

"I don't know whether to believe you or not."

"Trust me."

"So, are you going to arrest me for punching you?"

Mac sighed. "No," he said. "But don't try that again. I might not be so forgiving the next time."

"I'm sorry."

"We'll find her killer."

Frederick nodded. Mac motioned for Jo to come in. "Show Mister Frederick out," Mac said.

"Are you charging him?" Jo asked.

"No," Mac replied. "Just show him out."

Mac walked back around his desk and sat down. His jaw was sore now. He could understand why the man was upset. He supposed he would be upset too if he was in that situation. He rubbed his jaw. That guy had a good right hook. He would find out who killed Carla, and they would pay.

Danny and Lindsey were still going door-to-door at Mac's apartment building. "Are we going to have to go to every apartment in this building?" Lindsey asked.

"If we have to," Danny said. "You never know who might have been where when he came home this morning."

"This could take three or four days."

"We should get Flack down here to help. He loves this so much."

Lindsey smiled. "I thought he hated it," she said.

"Yeah, but I love irritating him."

Lindsey laughed as they walked on down the hall to the next apartment. Danny knocked. "Well, we haven't seen any really weird people here," he commented.

"Not yet," Lindsey replied. "You never know what we'll find next. And I wouldn't say they're weird, they're eccentric."

"Right," Danny said with a snicker.

They heard the door opening and a woman was there. "What do you want?" she asked a little irritably.

Danny showed her his badge. "I'm Detective Danny Messer. Did you happen to see Detective Mac Taylor at two a.m. this morning when he came home?"

"Two a.m.? I was not here at two a.m. I did not get home from my job until six."

"Did you see him leave this morning?"

"Are you kidding?"

The woman slammed the door. Danny looked at Lindsey. "Well, I guess she didn't see him," he said.

"I agree," Lindsey replied. "This is going to be a long afternoon."

"At least we get to spend it together."

Jo came into Mac's office. "What was that all about?" she asked.

"That was Carla's father," Mac replied.

"And you just let him get away with that?"

"Yes, I did."

"Why? Because you feel guilty? What are you going to do, Mac? Are you going to feel guilty for the rest of your life?"

Mac glared at her. "Why don't you stay out of it?" he asked. "I want to know who killed that girl."

"I do too, but I'm not blaming myself for something I couldn't help."

"I should have paid more attention or I should have asked her about herself."

"Mac, you couldn't have known that this was going to happen."

"Maybe not."

Mac walked back around his desk. "I'm still waiting for Don to find out which of those men had a white Avalanche," he said.

"Then we'll have a suspect," Jo replied. "Besides you, that is."

"I have to go over to the police department in Middletown too."

"I wonder if our suspect is from there or here."

"We'll soon find out."

Just then, Mac saw the detective from Middletown come from the elevator. "Uh oh," Mac said. "I think I'm about to get the third degree."

Jo looked around to see what he was talking about then she looked back at Mac. "Just tell him what happened," she said.

"I will, but you go to your office."

"If you say so…Boss."

Mac watched her walk out of the office and he waited for Detective Moffett to get there…

Detective Moffett came to Mac's office. Mac just waved him in before he knocked. Detective Moffett came in and shook Mac's hand. "I'm Detective Chad Moffett," he said. "Are you Detective Taylor?"

"Yes," Mac answered. "I know what you're here about. I don't know anything that would lead you to a suspect except what we found out from witnesses."

"I don't know you, Detective, but I want to give you the benefit of the doubt since you have a good record."

"Well, I thank you for that. I had nothing to do with her death. I was just with her yesterday."

"Some people are not taking it lightly that the detective who is investigating this case was involved with the victim and is even a suspect."

"Those ladies from the neighborhood saw me leave and then they saw the other guy come in. Isn't that enough?"

"They didn't see that guy come out with the body though and they didn't see what happened after that. People are wondering if you came back there and killed her to save your reputation. Everyone knows she kept DVD's of her performances."

"How does everyone know that?"

"News leaks out whether we want it to or not."

"Yeah. Like I've said before, in New York City, if you think it, it's news."

"Why didn't you tell us that you were involved with the victim at the start?"

"I was embarrassed. I didn't want anyone to know what I did last night and I just wanted to forget it. Now, it's headlines!"

"No kidding," Moffett said. He showed Mac the newspaper he was carrying.

Mac read the headline on the front page: NEW YORK CITY DETECTIVE SUSPECT IN MURDER CASE. Mac frowned as he looked at what else it said. It told how he had been with the victim the night before. He looked at Detective Moffett. "How did they find out all this?" he asked.

"Those two ladies that you and Detective Danville talked to? They tell everything over their grapevine," Detective Moffett replied. "Everyone in that little community over there knows them. They're just sweet, old ladies who like to talk and tell what they know."

"And they put up with this girl in their neighborhood? If everyone knew about this, why wasn't it stopped?"

"She wasn't out on the street corner prostituting. She was just taking men home with her, and there was no evidence of anything else until all this happened."

"You know anyone who has been seeing her who drives a white Avalanche?"

"There are several white Avalanches in Middletown. Those things are plentiful around there in all colors."

"Do you know any of them to be an acquaintance of Carla's?"

"Detective Taylor, Middletown might not be as big as New York City but we have crime and I am too busy to try and keep up with the goings-on over there in Carla Frederick's house?"

"Maybe you were one of her acquaintances."

Detective Moffett frowned. "I was not," he declared. "I am a happily married man and I don't need the services of a prostitute. I have five children. I am quite happy."

Mac almost chuckled at that. "Well, yesterday was the first time I had seen her too," he said. "I just met her by chance. I wish I had found out more about her. Maybe I could have helped her."

Detective Moffett stared at him a moment. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. I was just having a bad day yesterday and she cheered me up. I know I'm a detective, but I wasn't thinking about that. I should have picked up on all those little hints she gave me, but I didn't."

"We can't be a detective twenty-four hours a day. We have to be normal people sometimes and do normal things."

"I know, but I just think that if I had paid more attention, I might have realized what she was doing."

"You can't always see everything, but right now, you're going to have to come with me so I can get your fingerprints and stuff like that."

"They already have it in the lab," Mac said. "You can get whatever information you need from our files."

"Thanks for your cooperation, but I still need you to come with me and get a formal statement about this."

"I really have to go all the way to Middletown?"

"Yes."

Mac sighed. He knew he would do the same thing. "Alright," he said. "I don't have to ride in the police car, do I?"

"You can follow in your car," Moffett said. "Since I am sure you're not going to try and get away."

"Right."

Mac got his briefcase with his reports in it and followed Detective Moffett. He met Jo in the hallway. "I'm going over to Middletown," Mac said. "If Don gets anything about that Avalanche, let me know right away."

"Will do," Jo replied. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

Mac and Detective Moffett went to the elevator and went downstairs. Don saw them come from the elevator. "Hey, Mac," Don called.

Mac stopped at his desk. "What?" he asked.

"There are about seven people in Middletown with white Avalanches," Don said. He looked at Mac. "You probably don't want to know how many are in New York City."

Mac looked at him. "Why?"

"Because your suspect list just got very long."

"Compare the names to the names on those DVD's."

"That's already being done. I should have an answer in a little while."

"Good. Keep me informed. I want to know if the suspect is over in Middletown."

"That where you're going?"

"Yes. I have to go over there and make a formal statement. They have a grapevine over there and it seems that I am the main topic on it."

"Maybe someone should put a stopper in that grapevine."

"I don't think they can stop this one. The root is two old ladies who live on that street where the victim lived."

"Oh. Well, it was bound to leak out anyway. I guess you can't keep something like that a secret."

"I know. Just get that information and let me know when you find it."

"Will do."

Don watched Mac walk out. He hated that Mac was having to go through all this just because he went out on a date. He sat down at his desk. If Mac had known what all he was doing during that time he was grieving over Jess, he would have probably gave him a worse reprimand than he did. He remembered how angry Mac was when he found him at Terrence's apartment getting over a hangover and a beating. He was lucky that Mac did not fire him. He was understanding because he had been through almost the same thing. Don wondered what all Mac had done after he lost Claire. He thought Mac still hurt over that. He thought maybe that was what he was depressed about now. Mac never let his feelings be known.

As Mac was driving, he was thinking. He still felt depressed. He had gotten himself nowhere but into a police investigation. He was a suspect in a murder. He thought when this was over, he was going on a long vacation…and he would not be taking anyone with him. He was going alone! That way, if he got into trouble, it would not involve anyone else. He had to get away from New York for a while, but he wanted to find out who killed Carla first.

When they arrived in Middletown, there were reporters outside the precinct. They rushed toward Detective Moffett and Mac when they got out of the cars. "We are not answering any questions right now," Detective Moffett informed them.

"Is this Detective Taylor?" one of the reporters asked.

"I told you we're not answering any questions."

"That's him alright!" someone yelled.

With that, the reporters crowded around Mac even worse. They wanted to know what he had to say about the situation. "Detective Taylor!" another reporter yelled. "What is a decorated detective doing with a prostitute?"

"He did not know she was a prostitute!" Detective Moffett informed them. "He's not from this town!"

"How did she wind up murdered? Did you kill her, Detective Taylor?"

"NO!" Mac declared. "I sure did not!"

Detective Moffett pulled Mac on into the precinct. "You shouldn't have said anything," Moffett said.

"Why?" Mac asked. "You're just letting them make a mob out there. I want them to know who I am and that I didn't do this."

"They know who you are, Detective. They're just wanting a news story."

"How can they know me? They don't know me!"

"Well, you're not going to let them know you by standing out there arguing with the press!"

"I've gotten cases solved before by involving the press. I've let people know what was going on out there. They're not all bad."

"I didn't say they were bad. I said they're looking for a story."

"Let's just get this over with. Am I under arrest?"

"Of course not. You're a suspect in for questioning."

Mac grumbled as he went to the interrogation room. It was getting close to 6:00. He did not want to be here all night. Just as he was about to sit down at the table, his phone rang. "Taylor," he answered as Moffett came into the room.

"Mac," Don said. "I found two guys on this list of men who have a white Avalanche."

"And what are those names?" Mac asked, and took out his notepad.

"James Kennedy who is from Middletown and David Peters who is from here."

"It could be either one. You check out the one there and we'll check out the one here. Tell me the address."

Don gave Mac the address and Mac wrote it down. "Alright, I'll check this one out while I'm here," he said.

"I'll get to this other one," Don replied.

Mac put his phone away and looked at Detective Moffett who was sitting in the chair across from him. "You ready now?" Moffett asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Mac replied. He opened his briefcase and gave Moffett a copy of the report he had given Flack. "That should tell you anything you want to know." He sighed and leaned on his hands. "Like I said before, I don't know anything that would lead to a suspect. I just don't know enough about her, but my detective just called and told me about a suspect living here. He was on this list of men from the DVD's and he drives a white Avalanche." He showed Moffett his notepad.

Moffett stared at it. "According to the witnesses, the guy who came there after me was driving a white Avalanche," Mac said. "We need to check that guy out."

"We have to finish here first," Moffett said. He laid a notepad on the table and took his pen out. "What time did you meet her at the tennis court?"

Mac considered that. "Well, it was before lunch," he said. "I'd say it was probably around nine, maybe ten. We played tennis and then we went to lunch."

"Where did you eat?"

"A dairy bar out there," Mac said. "I believe it was called Dairy Kream, and they serve hamburgers there."

"Yes, I've been there. What did you do next?"

"We went to her house and she changed clothes."

Moffett stared at Mac. "You went inside?"

"Yes, I waited for her in the front room."

Moffett wrote that down. "So, you were there after lunch."

"Yes."

"Maybe this was when those two women saw you. This may be why she got your tag number."

Mac shrugged. "I don't know, but after that, we went to The Game Room."

"Did she meet anyone there that she knew?"

"No. We just bowled and played pool. After we left there, we went to the carnival. We were there until about eleven. Then we went back to her house and…" Mac shifted in his chair. "Well, I didn't stay long and then I got home at around two."

"Anyone see you get home?"

"I don't think so. I have two detectives trying to find someone who might have seen me."

Moffett leaned on the table. "You were at her house twice," he said. "That means that they could have seen you another time besides the time you were there during the night."

"Yeah, but they wouldn't have seen anyone else there after me during the day because she wasn't there. That was at night when they saw the guy come up there."

Moffett thought about that. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but you still don't have an alibi for the time of the murder."

Mac stood up. "Why don't we just go and find this guy here and see who he is and see if he has an Avalanche with the tag obscured by something? Then we'll be able to prove whether he did it or not."

"I guess it's worth a shot," Moffett said. "But we still have to finish here first."

Mac was anxious to get out there and find that suspect. "He could be leaving the state," he said. "We need to go after that guy and find him."

"As soon as we get all this paperwork done. The longer you keep wasting time, the longer it will take. Now, sit down."

Mac sighed heavily as he sat down. He could not believe they would rather waste time on him than to go out there and hunt the one who could be the real killer. It took another hour to get everything done. "I'm going with you," Mac declared.

"Great," Moffett said.

They went out to Moffett's car. Mac decided to just leave his car there. They went out to James Kennedy's house. There was a two-car garage on the house, so Mac figured the Avalanche was in there. "Let's be careful," Moffett said.

"I'm always careful," Mac replied, as he adjusted his weapon on his side.

Moffett knocked on the door. It was not long until they heard someone unlocking the door. Mac thought they must have unlocked four locks. Then a man opened the door. He was tall and had green eyes. He did not look very happy about them being there. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Are you James Kennedy?" Detective Moffett asked.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Detective Chad Moffett. This is Detective Taylor. Do you own a white Avalanche?"

Kennedy stared at them a moment. "Yeah, why?"

"Do you know a woman named Carla Frederick?" Mac asked.

Kennedy stared at him a moment. "What's it to you?" he asked.

"She was murdered last night. Where were you around one a.m.?"

Kennedy frowned. "I was asleep," he said.

"We'd like to see your Avalanche," Moffett said.

"You got a warrant?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Moffett took the warrant out and let Kennedy see it.

Kennedy glared at them, especially Mac. "I hear he was the one who killed her," he said. "What's he doing here accusing me?"

"Why don't you just show us that truck and stop beating around the bush," Moffett asked.

"Sure."

Just as Mac and Detective Moffett thought Kennedy was coming out the door, he slammed it shut and locked it before they could shove it back open. "He's running!" Moffett declared.

Mac took his weapon out and headed around the house, while Moffett went the other way. Mac wondered if Kennedy would try to get in the truck and run for it. He came to the corner of the house and eased up to the edge ready to peep around it. He could not see much because it was already dark. When he looked around the corner, Kennedy was there! Mac was surprised to see him right in his face almost. Kennedy grabbed Mac's hands and shoved him backward around the corner of the house. They struggled over the gun. Mac wondered where Moffett had run off to. He could use some help.

Kennedy finally tripped Mac, pulling his leg out from under him. Mac fell hard on his behind, but he would not let go of the gun. Mac could not get any leverage because Kennedy was strong. Mac wondered if he already took Moffett out. He finally got his foot up enough to kick Kennedy off him, but Kennedy did not let go of the gun. Instead, he pulled at Mac and pulled him forward. Then he punched Mac and almost got the weapon from him, but Mac would not let go of that gun. Kennedy tried to twist the gun with Mac's finger in the trigger mechanism.

Just as Mac thought Kennedy would get the best of him, Moffett came around the corner of the house with his weapon. "Drop it!" he said. Mac noticed Moffett was bleeding beside his eye and he was only holding the weapon with his right hand. "You drop it now, Kennedy!"

Kennedy glared at Mac and Mac shoved him off and trained his own weapon on him. "You alright?" Mac asked as he glanced at Moffett again.

"I will be," Moffett said. He grimaced. "He hit me with something."

Mac looked at Kennedy. "Get up," he said.

Kennedy stood up. "Now, get up against that wall," Mac said. He cuffed Kennedy and they headed back to the car. He put Kennedy in the back seat and went over to the garage. When he opened the door, he could see the white Avalanche in the garage. It had the tag obscured alright…with one of those plate covers. The plastic that went over the plate was scratched and sun blistered which caused it not to be clear anymore.

Moffett walked over to Mac. "I called this in," he said. "We have backup coming."

Mac looked at him. "You sure you're alright?"

"I'll be fine. I think he knocked my shoulder out of joint. He hit be with a piece of firewood."

Mac looked at the wound beside Moffett's eye. "You need to have that looked at," he said.

Moffett looked at Mac. "Sorry I accused you," he said.

"You were doing your job. I would have done the same thing."

"I want to hear that guy's explanation for all this. Why did he run?"

"He knew we would find something when we examine that truck. I'm thinking we're going to find some of Carla's blood in it and I think we might find some on his clothes he had on too."

"If we can find those. I think this case is about wrapped up."

"I want to hear his explanation for all this," Mac said.

"Me too."

When backup arrived, Mac got a forensics kit and went to the Avalanche. He found traces of blood in the back of the truck and even some on the steering wheel. He thought this guy must have thought no one would suspect him or that no one would care about Carla dying. He certainly did not try to clean anything up. He even found a long blond hair in the back of the truck.

At the precinct, they got the tests run on the DNA samples from the truck and they matched Carla's. Mac went into the interrogation room. "Why did you do it?" he asked, as he sat down at the table in front of Kennedy. He laid a picture of Carla on the table. "Why did you kill her?"

Kennedy just stared at him. "She almost got you," he said.

"That's not what this is about. I want to know why you killed her."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

Mac had to restrain himself or he would have jerked that guy up and made him wish he was telling it. Mac glared at him. "I want to know now!" he demanded.

Kennedy just laughed at Mac. "You actually thought you would get somewhere with her," he sneered. "You're a sucker! All she would have done was recorded you and she would have gotten every bit of money out of you that she could."

Mac was getting angrier by the minute. "She might have been a prostitute, but she was still a human being and you killed her. You're going to pay for that." Mac laid the DNA results on the table. "We found her DNA in your truck! You didn't even bother to try to clean it up or even to wash your hands! You even got it on the steering wheel!"

"I didn't think anyone would care so much about that whore."

Mac stood up then. He was about ready to get hold of this guy again. "You're going to pay for killing her."

"She was taking men for money making herself rich."

"What was she taking from you?"

"Nothing. I was paid to solve someone's problem," Kennedy said.

Mac stared at him. "You mean you were working for someone else?" he asked.

"Of course. He paid me plenty to get rid of his problem."

"Who? Tell me right now!" Mac thought this was making sense now. This guy was sent there to get rid of Carla for someone else and that was why he did not know which DVD's to destroy. He must not have known that they were labeled. "Who hired you?"

"He's a big business man in New York City."

"Who is he?"

"Why should I tell you?"

Mac leaned on the table. "It might make the difference between you getting prison time and the death penalty," he said.

"I think I'll just let you figure it out. I don't want to make it too easy on you. I won't get the death penalty because I admitted it."

Mac put his evidence back into the folder. "We'll see about that, won't we?" he asked. He took his folder and left the room.

Just then, Moffett was coming in with his arm in a sling. "What did he say?" he asked.

"He says that someone hired him to kill her," Mac replied.

"You believe him?"

"I think so. He won't tell who it was."

"I guess this case isn't over yet after all."

Mac had been hoping it was, but it looked like it was going to take much longer…


	5. Chapter 5

Mac yawned as he poured himself a cup of coffee in the Middletown Police Department Lounge. He felt like he was walking in a fog…maybe in his sleep. He hoped this coffee could keep him awake. He sipped it and almost wanted to pour it out. It was definitely not the best coffee he ever tasted, but he would have to drink it. Lindsey usually made the coffee at the lab. She knew what she was doing. Mac went back to Detective Moffett's desk. "Well, that lead in New York was a dead end," Mac said. "Flack called and told me that guy wasn't there. Danny and Lindsey did not find anyone who saw me come home either."

"Doesn't matter about that now, Taylor," Moffett said. "We found the killer. Now, we need to find whoever he killed the woman for…if that's even true."

Mac sipped the coffee again. He wanted to grimace, but he tried to be polite. "I think it's true," he said.

"That's the worst coffee you ever tasted," Moffett commented. "Wilkins over there makes it. He is definitely not a chef. Why don't we go out and get a good cup? We can talk over this case more. I'll bring this list of names and their businesses and we'll see if we can come to any conclusions."

"Sounds good to me," Mac replied. He shivered. "Who likes this coffee?"

"No one, but I don't guess anyone else around here can do better or he gets here first."

They went outside and over to Moffett's car. "Nice car you've got there," he commented.

"Thanks," Mac said. "I bought that yesterday too."

"Wow, you must have been having quite a crisis."

Mac looked at him. "I don't know. Is it a crisis to evaluate your life and see where it's going?"

"I don't know."

Mac yawned again as they pulled out to go to the coffee shop. He rubbed his eyes and wished he could just go home and sleep, but he did not see that happening yet. "So, when does your shift end?" he asked.

"Sometimes I work overtime," Moffett said.

"Don't we all?"

"I guess."

Moffett turned off the main street. Mac did not think this looked like the way to town. "We making another stop before we get coffee?" he asked.

"You might say that," Moffett replied as he aimed his weapon at Mac.

Mac sat up straighter. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"You're just too clever. You would eventually figure it out and I just can't have that. I thought Kennedy would tell you last night."

Mac stared at him. "You mean you went through all that pain and trouble for nothing?"

"You're kidding right? I don't want to go to prison. After all, I have put a lot of people in there."

"You were seeing Carla?"

"Yeah. You know, with five children around, you don't get much free time."

"And you hired someone to kill her?"

"Yeah, I did. And my shoulder was fine. It was never hurt and that place on the side of my head, well that was just nothing serious."

Mac could not believe what he was hearing. He was definitely going on a vacation when he got out of this mess. "Why didn't you just leave her?"

"I couldn't. She was blackmailing me, and I couldn't keep that up. My wife was getting suspicious, and I wasn't about to let her take everything from me."

"What do you think this is going to do?"

"It was only one lousy night! And she got it all on DVD."

"What did you do? Give her an assumed name? I didn't see your name on any of those DVD's."

"Of course I didn't give her my real name."

"So, what did Kennedy do? Did he get a phony story too?"

"Yeah. He thought he was talking to some big business man in New York. He just got rid of a problem for me."

"You could have just told your wife that you made a stupid mistake and told her you were sorry."

Moffett laughed. "I can tell you're not married."

Mac frowned. "What do you intend to do? Kill me?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to put you somewhere that they'll never find you."

"And just where is that?"

"You'll see."

Just then, Mac's phone rang. Moffett pulled the hammer back on the gun. "Don't even try it," he said.

Mac swallowed. He did not know how he would get out of this situation. This guy was a detective too, and he would know how to cover everything up. "So, what do you plan to do with me?" he asked.

"I already told you," Moffett answered. "Somewhere that they will never find you."

Mac looked out the window. He wished he could get a message to Flack. He was sure that was who was calling earlier. Soon, they were outside the town and going down a country road. Mac was getting more nervous. "You know, if you go through with this, your sentence is going to be worse than it would be right now," he said.

"Shut up," Moffett said. "You're not going to get into my head. They won't find you and they won't know I had anything to do with your disappearing."

"What about my car? You think they're not going to notice that it's still there?"

"I'll worry about that when I come to it."

Mac knew this guy was wise about this area and he knew exactly where he was going. Mac had no idea where he was going except that it was out of town. Soon, they came to a gravel road, and Moffett turned on that one. Mac hoped Don could track his phone. He knew why Moffett chose this place…it was so dark, he could not see anything except where the headlights were touching. As they were going along, suddenly, a deer walked out in front of the car. Mac gasped as Moffett tried to miss the deer, but in doing so, he ran off the road into a deep ditch, flipped and rammed into a tree…

Don Flack had been trying to call Mac. "He's not answering," he said. Danny and Lindsey were back at the precinct now after a whole afternoon of useless questioning.

"Why would he not answer?" Lindsey asked.

"Good question," Don replied. "We need to get over to Middletown and find him. He doesn't know he's with a murderer."

"How did this happen?" Danny asked as they were heading for the door.

"We need to call that police department and tell them what's going on."

"You think Mac has figured it out?"

"I don't know, but I don't think he would have yet. He thinks that guy is a stand-up guy. He's a detective!"

They went out to the Avalanche and got in with Danny driving. Don was trying to call Mac's phone again. "I'm not getting anything but the voicemail," he said. "Mac is either out of range, or he's in trouble."

"Hopefully he's out of range," Danny said.

They had no idea what they were going into, but they knew who had hired Kennedy to kill Carla Frederick. They had watched more of the DVD's and found the one of Detective Moffett, although it was under a different name. Jo had recognized him from when he came to the precinct. She had gotten a good look at him that time. They had also checked out the name on the DVD and there was a businessman in New York by that name, but he was not the one on the DVD. That was when Jo had come in and recognized Moffett.

"How long had she been blackmailing that guy?" Don wondered out loud.

"Must have been a long time," Danny replied. "That must be how she owned her own home."

"Must be," Lindsey agreed. "But how did she know who the real person was? If he was telling here an assumed name?"

"He must have told her his real name and then told Kennedy something else so he wouldn't know who really hired him."

"And he got tired of her blackmailing him. How do we know he was the only one involved?"

"We don't, but we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"This is a tangled up mess," Don remarked. "There must be more to it than this."

"Maybe there is," Danny agreed. "But we'll have to wait and see. Right now, I want to make sure Mac is alright."

Mac opened his eyes to see the top of Detective Moffett's car. He did not remember where he was for a moment or how he got here. He looked out the window of the car, but it was so dark, he could not see anything much. The moon was giving enough light that he could see Moffett who was lying across him. Moffett had not been wearing his seatbelt. Mac touched his neck and found that Moffett was alive, but his pulse was weak. He tried to get his seatbelt off, but the button would not work. He groaned as he tried to move his left leg. He thought his ankle must be sprained. He did not think it was broken, but it was swollen and it hurt!

Mac reached for the glove compartment. With the seatbelt so tight and Moffett lying across him, he could barely reach it. The seatbelt was locked in place like it was supposed to be after a crash. He finally got the glove compartment open. Like he had thought, there was a knife in there. He reached for it and finally got the knife. He pulled the blade up and cut the seatbelt off. Then he looked at Moffett again. He did not even see the gun he had been aiming at him. Mac realized he felt something wet on the side of his head. He put his hand up to it and realized it was blood. He thought he must have hit his head on the window or something. Even though the seatbelt had held him in place, it could not prevent him from hitting his head, and the window was broken out, so he figured that must have been what he hit.

Mac pulled at the door handle, but it would not open. He felt like he was trapped with Moffett lying across his lap like this and the door would not open. "Help me!" he yelled. He could hear a mosquito buzzing around him. He thought there must be some bites on him already. He did not know how long he had been out. He started to feel a little dizzy. He leaned his head back. He had to get out of this car. He pulled the door handle again and hit the door with his shoulder, but he could not hit it hard enough to open it.

Mac tried to get out from under Moffett. Every time he moved his left ankle, it was agony, but he had to get out of this car. He finally got out from under Moffett, who was starting to stir. Mac knew he wanted to get away from him before he got fully awake. He climbed out the window of the car and fell headlong onto the ground which was mostly gravel and some small bushes and dead wood. He tried to stand up, but his ankle was definitely sprained. He had to get up this hill back to the road somehow. He got on his hands and knees and began crawling toward the road. He could not see how far it was, but he knew it was up this hill.

Mac finally reached the road again. He could not help Moffett because there was nothing on this road they were on. He could not see any lights anywhere. He supposed anyone who would be coming down through here at night would not be someone that he would want to find him. Mac looked down the road in the direction they had been going and back the way they had come. He hoped he could get back out of here without getting hopelessly lost. He was not sure he could walk on this ankle but he was certainly going to try. He finally got up onto his feet. That ankle was certainly swollen and he could barely stand to touch his toes to the ground, but he forced himself to walk on it. He wondered how far he could get like this.

As Mac was walking down the road, he heard something behind him. "Taylor!"

Mac's breath caught in his chest. He knew he could not outrun Moffett in this condition. He looked around him…and then he thought of his cell phone. He felt of his side, but it was not in the holster. He looked back toward the car. He could faintly see the headlights. He must have lost his phone in the crash. His weapon was still on his side, however because it was held by the snap. He would use it if he had to. It would be his only hope of surviving if Moffett could come after him. He did not know how badly the man was hurt. Mac felt of his head again. He thought he probably had a concussion. He still felt a little dizzy and a little nauseous too. Those were both signs of a concussion.

Mac walked until he thought he would pass out and he could not take the pain in his ankle anymore, especially walking on this gravel road. He looked around him, but he could not see anything that might give him a little shelter. There were mosquitoes flying around him most of the time. He tried to keep them off, but he had felt a few sticks where they had bitten him.

While Mac was standing still, he heard something on the gravel road. He looked behind him and took his weapon out. He knew it could be Moffett, but it could be an animal too. After all, he was out in the woods on a gravel road with no lights around. He swallowed hard trying to keep his fear under control. He was injured and he could not run from anything. He would have to defend himself with deadly force. He took a few more steps and then tripped over something and stumbled over the edge of the road. He rolled down the hill and into a large tree at the bottom of the ditch. He was dazed now. He tried not to pass out. He had to get up…

Danny Messer, Don Flack and Lindsey Messer were almost to Middletown. They still could not reach Mac on his cell phone, of course, and Adam could not track it. "He must be out of the service area," Adam said as Don was talking to him over the phone.

"Thanks, Adam," Don replied. "If you get anything, just let me know."

"Will do, Don."

Don put his phone away. "He still can't find him," Don said.

"We'll find him ourselves," Danny replied. "Maybe his phone was damaged or something."

"But Mac would contact us somehow," Lindsey pointed out. "He would call us from some other phone if he couldn't use his cell."

"That's right too, but let's try to have a little optimism."

"We don't have time for that. Mac is either just out of touch or he's in trouble because he doesn't know he's working with a murderer."

"We have to talk to the chief at that precinct and tell him what we found," Don said. "Maybe we should have brought Jo along."

"She was busy," Danny said. "Besides, we can handle this."

They finally arrived in Middletown and found the precinct. They walked into a squad room that did not have many on duty. They walked up to the front desk and showed their badges. "We're looking for Detective Taylor," Don said. "He's from New York City."

"He left with Detective Moffett. They were going to get some coffee and they haven't returned yet," the officer said. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Can we see your chief?"

"He's not here right now, but I can call him if this is an emergency."

"Yes, this is an emergency. Call him."

"Yes, sir."

Don looked at Danny and Lindsey. "They went out for coffee?" Don said.

"Maybe they have bad coffee here," Danny remarked.

"Maybe, but Mac's car is still out front."

"They must have taken Moffett's car."

The officer came back to the desk. "He's on his way," he said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "How long have they been gone?"

"About two hours."

"And you don't think it's strange that they would be gone that long?"

"No, not really."

"Has Detective Moffett checked in at all?"

"No. It's not unusual for him to be out all night without calling."

"With a visiting detective?"

"Look, I may look like I don't do anything here at the desk, but I have a lot of phone calls to answer and a lot of messages to relay. I don't have time to keep up with Detective Moffett or your Detective Taylor. They're grown men, they can take care of themselves. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

The officer walked away. Danny looked at Don and Lindsey. "Well, I hope that chief will listen to us," he said.

"I'm sure he will," Don said. "We have plenty of evidence."

"Yeah, but when you've been working with someone so long, you find it hard to believe that they would do something like this."

"Yeah."

They could remember people they had worked with who had done things they would never have imagined. They would never have believed it if they had not seen the evidence. They sat down in the waiting area to wait for the chief to arrive. They would just keep this evidence to themselves until he got there.

Mac was still lying beside the tree. He looked around him. He thought he must have passed out for a while. He used the tree for leverage to try and get himself to his feet again. He felt dizzy and did not know which way he was even looking. He just started walking, not even realizing which way he was going. He did not realize he was disoriented and was going further from help. He was concentrating on keeping himself on his feet.

As Mac walked, he realized he was going through a stand of trees. He had not known he had to go through a forest to get back to the road. He must have rolled further than he had thought. He could not see anything much except what the moon illuminated. Everything seemed to have a face and arms that grabbed at him. Actually, he was walking by briars that were pulling at his jacket and pants. He kept walking until he fell over a fallen tree. He lay there a moment trying to let his dizziness pass. He had not thought of Moffett since he walked into these woods. He thought maybe his brain was clearing a little now. He remembered now that they had been in a wreck. He had fallen down the hill from the road and…he was not sure what had happened after that. He did not know where Moffett was either. He knew he was determined to kill him to keep him from letting it be known that he was the one who paid James Kennedy to kill Carla. However, Mac knew his team must have already realized that by now. He would have known it after a while.

Mac finally got himself back to his feet and almost stumbled backward, but he steadied himself. He looked around him. The forest all looked the same…actually, he thought this was the 'woods'. It was thick and had plenty of undergrowth. He did not even know which way he had come from. He felt dizzy again. Then he heard something scuffling in the undergrowth. He wondered what that was. He started walking and felt for his weapon, but it was not there. He gasped. He had lost it when he rolled down that hill and he had been disoriented when he woke up and did not think of finding it. Now, he was lost in the woods. He started walking again, hoping that he was not going deeper into the woods…

Moffett had gotten out of the car and had walked down the road looking for Mac. He had a head injury too, but he did not have any broken ankles or legs. He thought he had a broken rib though. He wanted to find Mac Taylor and kill him before someone else found him. In his clouded mind, he thought he would be able to explain his way out of everything. He did not believe they could prove that he had Carla killed. He wondered where Mac had gotten off to. He had to find him. He soon found where Mac had fallen down the hill because he tripped over the same thing and almost fell down the hill himself, and that was when he found Mac's weapon. He looked down the hill but it was so dark, he could not see anything. He would have to go down there and see if Mac was down there. His life was over now anyway. He would find Mac Taylor and kill him. Then he would disappear into the country and no one would ever find him.

Mac was still walking. He could feel all the bruises and scratches he had on him from the wreck now. He felt sore especially where that seatbelt had been. That reminded him of the case he had that time about Talmadge Neville, that man who went to prison for his daughter because she was a surgeon. He remembered how he figured out that Talmadge was not driving when the wreck happened. He had been rubbing his right shoulder and that let Mac know that he had been on the passenger side when the seatbelt caught.

Mac heard something behind him again. He looked around, but he could not see much in the dim moonlight. The moon was not straight overhead now so it was not helping as much as it was before. Mac wanted to move faster, but he could not on that sprained ankle. He could barely stay on it at all. He tried to move faster, however because he could hear something coming that way behind him. He wondered if it was an animal. He hated the thought of being torn apart by an animal or even eaten while he was still alive. He knew some animals started eating their prey before they killed it. He knew there were bears up here in these woods and maybe even mountain lions. He hoped he did not get any ticks on him.

As Mac kept walking, he came to a place where the ground was squishy. It was very wet and the water seeped into his shoes. Where was he? He thought he must be coming into a marsh. If he was, he knew it could only get worse. He was going the wrong way. He turned to the right and began walking that way, but he soon came to the same squishy ground again. He took another step hoping that it would not get any deeper. He soon found that it got up to his knees in places and then was dry in others. He had no idea where he was now but it was not good to be wading in water. He remembered when he was in the Marines, in training and they had to go out into training zones. They would wade through water and even walk through water up to their chests. Some of the time, he would come out of all that with leeches all over him. He cringed at the thought of that. He could not stand the thought of something sucking his blood out. He knew he was not going the right way, but he did not know which way to turn because there was no indication out here of which way he could find civilization. He had been disoriented when he came to and he had just wandered around in the woods not knowing which direction he was going. He wondered how many times he had turned while he was wandering aimlessly.

Mac stopped and looked around him again while he listened. This reminded him of trekking through those woods and marshes in the Marines. He backed up against a tree and stared around him. He knew Moffett could be out there hunting him and there could be animals out there smelling his blood. If he died out here, no one would ever find him. He would decay with everything else out here in this marshy place. He supposed decay was quicker out here than it would be in a dry place. If he was in the desert, he supposed the sand would wear something away out there. Mac closed his eyes. He could almost hear the sounds of the war out here in this place. He wanted out of here. He started walking again feeling like someone was coming after him. He sloshed through the water trying to get further away from whatever he had been hearing out there in the woods. He fell once while he was going through the water and swam part of the way. He supposed that was better than walking on his sore ankle. He was becoming exhausted. He crawled out of the water and lay down on the wet ground. How he wanted to sleep! But he knew he could not do that. There was a sense of urgency to keep going.

"Taylor!"

Mac gasped when he heard that. He knew it was Moffett. "I'll find you, Taylor!"

Mac did not think that sounded very far away. He got himself up again and started walking. There was no way to walk very fast here because it was treacherous…

Moffett could see Mac's prints in the marshy ground since he had a flashlight. He was sure no one else had been walking out here. He thought Mac must have been disoriented or he would not have wandered out here like this. He knew more about this area than Mac did. This was undeveloped land and it was still wild and had a lot of water around it. However, he knew if Mac kept going, he would finally come to a highway if he could survive that long. He kept following Mac's trail until he came to the deeper water. He knew Mac had gone into that water. He went into it and came out on the other side. He found where Mac had stayed on the ground a few moments and then had walked on. "You can't hide forever, Taylor!" he yelled.

Mac looked around. He knew that was closer. Moffett was gaining on him. Mac looked back the way he had been going. He wondered where this ever came out. He was soaking wet now and it was not exactly warm out here in these woods. He did not think anything could dry out here either. He finally tripped and fell again as a vine caught his leg. That sent a pain through his ankle. He lay there and held his ankle trying to overcome that pain. It was like a cold, deep pain that ached down through his bone. He wished he could just lie here and not move, but he had to get up. As he began walking again, he started thinking about what he was going to do after he got out of this. He was going to take the longest bath in history and then he was going on a long vacation by himself. He would go sailing. It had been years since he went sailing. He wanted to see the ocean. Claire had always loved the ocean. He would get out there alone and feel close to her. He remembered how she had laughed when he chased her down the beach on their honeymoon in Hawaii. He remembered what happened when he caught her too. He did not love anyone else. He felt like just letting his emotions go right here as he walked through this wilderness, but he knew if he made too much noise, Moffett would hear him. He knew if he let his emotions go to the full, he would weep out loud. He had never really let everything go after he lost Claire. He had bottled it up inside until it was like a volcano ready to erupt. A volcano eventually erupted to release the pressure. Mac knew he was going to have to erupt. That is why he stayed busy all the time; when he got alone and quiet, he could feel the pressure and his mind wandered to the things that created the pressure.

Mac looked behind him again. He knew Moffett would not give up. He had to keep moving. He looked at his watch, but it had been broken in the wreck. It was stopped at almost exactly 11 pm. He did not know how long he had been out after the wreck and he did not know how long he had been out when he fell down the hill. He did not think it had been long when he rolled down the hill. He looked up at the stars and found the Big Dipper, which was quite low this time of the year, but he could tell what time it was by the Big Dipper. It was a twenty-four hour clock and moved backward. He had studied that when he was young and he could always tell what time it was when he was on a ship in the middle of the ocean with the Marines. The North Star and the Big Dipper gave a good clue as to what time it was. It was almost 2 am, roughly. That meant he had about 4 to 5 hours before daylight. He was glad it was May, although it had been hot this year, but if it was winter, he would be freezing out here and it would be even longer before daylight. Instead, he was hot, and he knew when that sun came up, it would be so humid out here, it would be stifling.

Mac finally came to a bunch of cedar trees. They were growing low to the ground, of course because no one had pruned their limbs up. He knew they would provide a good shelter if he could get under them, but he did not want Moffett to know he was under there. He had to rest. He knew Moffett must be following him by his footprints. He walked around the stand of trees and then walked over into the thicker part where the ground was covered with pine straw, so there were no prints left. He made his way back to the cedars and crawled under them. He collapsed on the ground and was asleep before he had time to look and make sure he was not invading some animal's domain. He was exhausted…

Moffett was still coming through the marsh following Mac's footprints. He could tell Mac was tiring by the way he was not walking in a straight line. Moffett could barely walk in a straight line himself, but he had the weapons. Mac had lost his gun and now Moffett had it. He decided that he would kill Mac with his own gun and just leave it out here in the marsh. That way, no one would find it. He knew no one would be coming and searching this whole marsh looking for Mac Taylor. He had to find him and get rid of him and then disappear. He knew Mac was the kind of man who would not give up until he got out of this marsh, so he had to eliminate him before he could go on his way. Soon, he came to a thick stand of cedar trees, but he could still see Mac's prints in the marshy ground. He followed them until he came around the edge to a clearing…then he lost them somewhere. He looked behind him. It was so dark, he might not have seen where Mac turned. He turned back and went back to the last place he saw the prints. He searched the areas around it but did not see anything. Then he noticed the pine straw. He glared at the woods around him. He knew Mac had evaded him. He could have gone either way under that with that pine straw covering the ground. He would have to find some sort of clue. He knew Mac must have gone in here where the prints disappeared, so he would have to look for some clues as to where he had gone in there. He looked at the leaves around him to see if Mac had broken any twigs or anything. He finally came to a place where part of Mac's shoe had touched soil. He studied it and saw which way it was pointing. He stared ahead of him and saw the stand of cedars. He smiled an evil smile. He knew Mac must have gone under that to sleep and rest, thinking that he would not find him.

Mac woke up hearing some rustling. He stayed still for a moment and realized something was coming through the trees. Then he saw a flicker of light. It was Moffett! Mac moved toward the outside of the cedars away from Moffett. He moved as quietly as he could so as not to give away his position. "I know you're in there, Taylor," Moffett said.

Mac's breath caught in his chest. He had to get away from him or he would be done for with this sprained ankle. He got out from under the trees and got to his feet. His ankle seemed to be even more swollen now and hurt worse. He knew that was because he had stopped and rested. He had to go though. He had no alternative. He soon got into a clearing and he could move faster. He tried to run, but it was too painful. He moved as fast as he could as he got across the clearing. Just as he was about to go back into the woods on the other side of the clearing, he heard Moffett yell, "Taylor!"

Mac knew he was in trouble now. He heard a bullet whiz by and smack a tree to his right. He got into the woods and kept moving. He knew Moffett was coming and he did not have a sprained ankle slowing him down. Mac looked for a place that he could stop to ambush him. He finally found a tree that he could hide behind. He stopped and tried to slow his breathing and waited…

Don, Danny and Lindsey were talking to the chief at the Middletown police precinct. "We can track the GPS in Moffett's car," Chief Ware said. "Just give us some time."

"Mac may not have any time," Danny said.

"Well, we're going to have to take the time because I don't know where they are. They have not been seen at the coffee shop."

"How many coffee shops are in this town?"

"About five, I guess, but I know which one Detective Moffett goes to," the chief said. He looked at them a moment. "It is hard for me to believe that Chad would do something like this."  
"We know that feeling," Don replied. "If we didn't have facts, we would not be accusing him."

"I know."

"Mac's car is still here too," Lindsey pointed out. "So, we know they went together."

"As soon as we get that GPS tracked, we'll find them," Chief Ware said.

Don, Danny and Lindsey hated waiting, but they knew it took time to track something like that. They had waited for things like that before themselves. Danny paced back and forth. "He is obviously going to kill Mac if he gets the chance," he said.

"Where would he take him to keep anyone from knowing it?" Lindsey asked.

"Somewhere that he knows no one would find his body, and since we don't have any evidence that he did anything to him, he knows he might get away with it if he has a good enough lawyer."

"We have him on tape though. He can't deny it."

"There was only one time that he was there though," Flack said. "How did she keep those men coming back?"

"I think she probably got money from them for what she did and when they stopped coming, she started blackmailing them, threatening to let their secret be known."

"I agree," Danny said. "I think there could have been more than just Moffett involved in that."

"No way to prove it unless he comes clean," Don said. "I don't think he'll ever roll over on anybody."

"So, he's going to jail for them and himself?"

"I think someone asked him to get someone to take care of that situation for them, maybe more than one someone, and they paid him and then he hired someone else to do it for a smaller amount of money so he would not have to do the actual killing."

Danny nodded. "That sounds right to me, but if we don't find this guy, we'll never prove it."

Finally, the chief had the information they had been waiting for. "The last location we have is right here," he said, pointing to a map. "It disappeared right there. Something happened to the GPS when it got to that spot."

"Like what?" Don asked.

"Don't know. Maybe they had a wreck or something. The thing is, it is out in an undeveloped place in that State Park. There's nothing there but forest and marsh land. If he wants to get your friend out there away from everything, that is a good place to go. A person can definitely get lost out there."

"Let's get moving then," Danny said.

Mac was waiting behind the tree. It was still dark out there, but he could see the first gray light of dawn coming into the East. He thought he must have slept quite a while out there under those trees. He could not be certain of the time now that he could not see the Big Dipper. He heard Moffett taking slow footsteps. He thought Moffett must know that he had stopped somewhere, because he was most likely listening for his footsteps too. He waited until Moffett was right beside the tree he was waiting behind and then he came around it with a swing of his right fist.

Mac grabbed hold of Moffett's hand that had the gun in it and the gun fired as the gun was pointing into the air. Mac had no leverage on his left foot, but he had the rest of his body and Moffett had a sore rib. Mac discovered that quickly. He glared at Moffett and rammed his right fist into the sore rib. Moffett cried out with pain and fell to the ground coughing. Mac took both weapons. Moffett was moaning in pain. "Just leave me here," he whined. "My life is over anyway."

"Shut up!" Mac said. "Your life wasn't over until you decided to take someone else's! You could have fixed that other problem!" Moffett had cuffs on his side so Mac took them and cuffed his hands behind him.

"I'm not going with you!" Moffett yelled. "You can cuff me and leave me here, but I will not walk! I don't care if you shoot me!"

Mac glared at him. "Yes you will walk if I have to shove you the entire way!" he declared. "Now get up!" He jerked Moffett up off the ground, but he just fell right back down almost pulling Mac with him since he was unsteady on that left foot.

Moffett just lay there on the ground and stared up at the sky. "I refuse to go!" he said.

"Fine!" Mac said. "If you don't go, you'll be here when we return to get you!" He pulled Moffett over to a smaller tree and cuffed his hand to the tree leaving the other hand free. "Sorry I don't have anything to leave you to eat or drink, but you didn't give me much choice in that matter."

"You can't leave me here like this!" Moffett declared. "I'll die!"

"Are you going to get up and come with me? I'm certainly not going to carry you out of here!"

Moffett did not like his alternative. "Fine. Take me back there to be executed! If I don't get the death penalty, I'll be killed in prison after they do everything else to me!"

"Whose fault is that?" Mac asked. "You should have thought of that before you killed somebody and tried to kill me! You know, adultery wasn't a crime!" He uncuffed Moffett from the tree and cuffed his hands behind his back again. He looked in the direction he had been going. "Do you know where we are?"

"If you think I am going to help you, you're crazy," Moffett said. "We can die out here together for all I care!"

Mac glared at him and then shoved him forward. "Get going! We'll just go the way we were going! These woods can't go on forever!"


	6. Chapter 6

When Danny, Don, and Lindsey arrived at the spot where the GPS had stopped working, they knew why. They were out of the car as soon as it stopped. "Mac!" Lindsey called, but when they got to the car, there was no one inside.

They were relieved but wondered where Mac and Moffett were. "Looks like some blood in there," Danny said. He picked up Mac's cell phone. "Looks like his cell phone is smashed too. This was why we couldn't track it."

"Where could he be?" Don asked as he was looking around the area.

"He must have gotten out of the car to get away from Moffett," Lindsey said. "Mac must have known he was the murderer."

"Moffett maybe let him know it."

They looked toward the woods. "You think they went out there?" Danny asked.

"I don't know where else they could have gone," Chief Ware said. "We didn't see them on the road. Surely they wouldn't go further down this road."

"Maybe they didn't know where they were going," Don said. "Can you imagine how dark it is out here at night?"

"I don't have to imagine. I have been out here before. Dark as a dungeon."

"So, I guess we should figure out whether they went into these woods or not."

They began searching around the area and finally found where Mac had rolled down the hill. "The grass is smushed down here," Lindsey said. "Like someone fell down the hill."

"Probably tripped over that," Danny said, pointing to a large stone on the side of the road. "That looks out of place. I don't see any more stones like that here."

"There's a rock quarry down there," Chief Ware said. "Probably fell off one of the trucks on its way out."

They got down the hill and looked around. "Looks like someone laid here for a while," Danny said pointing to the ground around a tree.

They looked into the woods. "Why would Mac go into the woods?" Lindsey asked.

"Maybe he was disoriented. They had been in a wreck and then he rolled down this hill."

"How do you know it wasn't Moffett who rolled down the hill?"

"I don't. I'm just saying."

"Well, obviously they went in there," Don said. "I hate the woods. There's all kinds of bugs and everything out there."

Danny looked at him with an amused look. "You're afraid of the woods?" he asked.

Don folded his arms. "I didn't say I was afraid. I said _I hate the woods_. That's a big difference."

"Yeah, but people say they hate something sometimes because they're just a little afraid, but they don't want to admit it."

"Can we have this debate later?" Lindsey asked.

Danny thought a moment. "We might go out there and never find him," he declared. "How do we know he won't come out over there or something?"

"There is a highway over North of here," Chief Ware said. "If he makes it that far, he'll be doing good. There's some marshy ground out there that hasn't been developed into anything yet. He might make it if he doesn't get too hot and dehydrate out there."

"If anybody can make it out of there, Mac can," Lindsey said.

"I hope you're right."

"Still, I think someone should be looking for him from this end," Don said.

"We'll get air support to come out and do a search," Chief Ware said.

"Don and I will go out there and look for him with a map while you and Lindsey go with the helicopter," Danny said. "I think someone should be looking for him on the ground too."

Chief Ware nodded. "I'll call them in."

Danny hugged Lindsey and kissed her. "You be careful," Lindsey said.

"I will," Danny replied. "I'll have old Flack there to throw to the wild animals if I see any."

"Ha, ha, ha," Don said, sarcastically. "I might throw you to them."

Danny and Don got into some boots and coveralls before they went into the woods. "It's a good thing we always keep all this in the Avalanche," Don remarked.

"Always ready for anything," Danny said as he zipped up his coveralls. He put his weapon on his side. "You ready to go into those scary woods?"

"Will you knock it off?" Don asked.

They stopped at the edge of the woods. Don looked around at Lindsey. "Don't forget we're out there," he said.

Danny pushed him into the woods. "I never thought I'd see you afraid of anything," he declared.

"I'm not afraid. I don't like the woods."

"Just think, this place is probably just like it was way back when the United States was first discovered."

"It looks like it."

Danny snickered. "You would have never made it if you had gone hunting with me and my dad when I was a kid," he said. "We went out and didn't come back for two or three days."

"I would die!" Don declared.

"You think we should be quiet?"

"I don't know. I don't think anyone or any 'thing' hears us out here but the bugs."

"It's getting hot out here." Danny wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Yeah, and it's only going to get worse."

"Maybe it won't get up to a hundred today."

"That would be too lucky."

Mac was still making Moffett walk through those woods trying to find the way out. "Stop a minute," Mac said. They stopped and he took off his suit jacket and top shirt so he would have on a t-shirt. It was getting hotter by the minute. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. "You see what you got us into?"

"You're the one who wandered out here in these woods," Moffett said. "Why did you come out here anyway?"

"I didn't know where I was going. When I rolled down that hill, I was disoriented and when I came to myself, I was lost."

Moffett sniffed. "Sounds like a Yankee."

"I resent that."

"You can trek through New York City and never get lost, but you get out here and you can't find your way back to the road?"

Mac stared at him. "It's your fault that we're out here! You're the one who tried to kill me."

Moffett looked down at the ground. "Would it help to say I'm sorry?"

"Not much." Mac just dropped his jacket and shirt. "I'm not wagging that all the way out of here. You're going to pay me for those clothes."

"With what?"

"Whatever you've got. Whatever you got for having Carla killed."

"She was a pretty girl, but she was a schemer."

"Well, I almost fell for it too, but I wasn't married." Mac pointed toward the trail…or the way they were going. "Let's get moving."

Moffett began walking again. "Were you in the military?" he asked.

"Yes. I was in the Marines. I went to Beirut and the first Gulf War."

"Desert Storm?"

"Yeah."

"I was there too, but I was in the Army."

"Don't you just hate sand?"

Moffett snickered. "I used to love the beach, but now all I see is that sand that wants to get into everything," he said.

"_EVERY_ thing," Mac agreed. "I had sand in places that were supposed to be covered."

"I think I ate probably a gallon of sand while I was over there."

"Me too. No wonder I felt heavy when I got out of bed."

"Oh please. I don't want to laugh. This situation is not funny."

"I know. You should have just fixed that problem you had without resorting to murder."

"I realize that now, but I can't go back. If she was still alive, she might have gotten you."

"I didn't have anything to lose for that. People might have found out that I went on a date with a woman half my age, but they found out anyway. So what? I didn't commit a crime."

"It was embarrassing though, right?"

Mac sighed. "Yes, but I'll get over it. My team respects me. They won't hold that over me, and besides, I didn't do anything wrong. You, on the other hand, committed murder because of a woman who you could have arrested for prostitution."

"No I couldn't. She was blackmailing me. When I found out those other guys were being blackmailed, I contacted them because they had money and I knew they would pay me to get rid of their problem so I could get rid of mine using their money."

"There were others involved?" Mac asked.

"Of course, but I'm not going to tell you who."

Mac frowned. "I can always look at the DVD's and see if any of them made any transactions," he said.

"You won't find them and I won't tell you, because they're going to hire good lawyers for me."

Mac scoffed. "You must be kidding," he said. "Do you actually think they're going to help you? They would be suspect if they helped you. It would be easy to see if they paid the lawyer or if that lawyer works for them."

"Whatever, Taylor."

"You're a detective. Surely, you know more than that."

"Don't criticize me. You think you know more just because you're from NYC?"

"No. Don't put words in my mouth."

"Yeah, you have enough words of your own."

They walked in silence for a while. Mac could feel sweat running down his body and his clothes were wet, not just from the swim he had to go through last night, but from the sweat too. "Do you think we can drink some of this water?" Mac asked as he saw yet another lake.

"I don't know," Moffett replied. "It sure looks good."

"Anything would look good right now in this heat, but we need to find one that's not stagnant."

"There should be a stream around here somewhere. Where there's lakes, there must be streams."

"Unless they are coming from springs underground," Mac said. "That's why they don't dry up."

"Maybe we could dig for some."

Mac considered that. If he dug down until he found water, it would be pretty clean since it is down in the ground, but he did not have time for that or the tools for it. Soon, they came to a stream. Mac looked both ways up and down the stream. He did not see anything but wilderness. "This is a site for a National Park," Moffett said. "I don't think there's anything around here that would dirty the water."

Mac stared at the water and licked his lips. "Well, I'm thirsty, so I say we drink some," he said.

Moffett looked at him. "Hey, I drank water from streams when I was in the Army. I'm still alive."

"Same here."

"Can I have my hands loose so I can get some?"

Mac considered that. "After I drink some. Come here."

Moffett followed him over to a small tree. Mac cuffed him around it and left him there so he could drink water without worrying about Moffett escaping. He knelt beside the stream and drank water. "It sure is cold to be out here in this heat," he said. He dunked his head under the water and slung the water off. He gripped his ankle as a pain went through it. He knew he was going to have a hard time with that if he did not get to be off it.

"What's wrong with your ankle?" Moffett asked.

"It's sprained. It happened in the wreck."

"Well, this tree doesn't feel good to my broken rib."

"Well, walking through this wilderness doesn't feel good to by sprained ankle either."

They glared at each other. "I'm gonna let you get some water," Mac said. "But you better not try anything or I will shoot you."

Mac unlocked the cuffs and let Moffett get some water. Then he cuffed his hands again and they went on. Mac thought he would not be able to walk on this ankle by the time he got where he could rest. He knew when he got off it, it would probably swell bigger than it already was. Right now, he wanted out of these woods and he saw no indication of anything. "Do you know which way we should be going?" he asked.

"No," Moffett answered.

Mac did not know whether to trust that or not. Then he thought he heard something. He listened as they kept walking. He thought it sounded like a helicopter far off. His heart jumped as he thought maybe someone was looking for them. He hoped they were. He wanted off this sore ankle. He would gladly let them take him to a hospital…

Danny and Don were still walking through the woods. "Man, it's hot out here!" Don said as he swatted at a mosquito. "Even the mosquitoes stay out all day in this weather."

"Humidity," Danny said. He wiped sweat off his forehead. "We should see something in this ground some time or other."

"I haven't seen anything."

Danny stared at the ground as he walked. "Hey, wait a minute," he said. He squatted and looked at the ground. "This looks like a print here."

Don looked at what Danny was looking at. "Yeah," he agreed. He looked into the woods. "Hey, Mac!" he yelled.

"What are you yelling for?" Danny asked. "There are miles of this."

"You never know. He might hear me."

"He'll be more likely to hear that chopper. He could be injured out there somewhere."

They started walking again. "So, when you went on these hunting trips, what were you hunting?" Don asked.

"Deer most of the time," Danny replied. "It was good when you didn't have anything else to eat."

"I guess so, but I would rather have my mom's lasagna. She made the best."

"I would have to disagree with that. My mom could take deer meat and make lasagna out of it. You didn't know whether you were eating beef or not."

"Come on. Deer doesn't taste the same as beef."

"Maybe not, but when you have all that cheese and tomato sauce in it, it's good anyway."

"I can't get past that 'wild' taste."

"It's something you develop a taste for I guess."

"We ate a lot of salmon when I was a kid. My mom would take those things…out of a can, of course, and make patties out of them."

"Yeah?" Danny asked. "Well, I guess we have something in common after all. We had the same thing. Corn meal, right?"

"Yes. Corn meal fried in the fat."

Danny laughed. "Those were the days, weren't they? Now, everything's bad for you."

Don had to laugh at that. "It's funny. We're still here. I think people were just more active then and worked harder."

"I agree. Too much stress and TV now."

"Computers."

"Yeah. When I was a kid, we stayed outside all the time exploring the world. You know, one day, I got on a train and rode over to Queens."

Danny snickered. "I rode all the way to Jersey once. My mom wasn't very happy when the police over there called her and told her that her kid was in the train yard and had stowed away on a train."

"Kids can't really explore the world like that now," Don said. "Too many maniacs."

Danny nodded. "It's sad to think that Lucy won't ever get to make us drive all the way to Jersey to pick her up at the train yard."

"Hey, she might wind up in Montana to see what it was like."

"Why? We have been there."

"Yeah, but her mother comes from there. She might want to explore it."

"I suppose Lindsey had plenty of room to roam without getting into trouble."

"Must have been nice."

Mac and Moffett heard the helicopter again. Mac looked up. "That's a chopper," he said. "Maybe they're looking for us."

"How would they find us here?" Moffett asked.

Mac looked at him. "My team knows what they're doing," he declared. "They'll find me if it's possible."

"So, why don't we sit down and wait then?"

Mac thought if he knew they were coming, he would do just that. He wished he knew where they were. There was no way he could signal them in all these trees. He remembered that clearing they had been in earlier. If he was there, he could signal them. Here where they were was thick trees that had not been disturbed by anything. He felt weary and tired…so tired, that he thought he could just lie down here on this ground and sleep until someone found him. He was hungry too. He realized he had not eaten anything since yesterday at lunch. He barely ate then.

"Why don't we just rest a while?" Moffett asked, seeing the conflict on Mac's face.

Mac glared at him. "I don't need your advice," he said. "Get over there to that tree."

Moffett moved over to the tree. "You're going to cuff me again?" he asked.

"Yeah. So I can rest without worrying about you getting clever or stealing the weapons and killing me."

Moffett sighed loudly. "I gave up on that," he said. "After all, you're a fellow soldier."

"Just sit down."

Moffett sat down beside the tree and Mac cuffed his hands around it. "At least you can rest a little," Mac said.

Moffett looked at Mac as he sat down beside another tree. He could see that Mac was weary. "I'm not a murderer," Moffett said. "Why do you think I had someone else do it?"

Mac looked at him with a tolerant look. "It's the same thing," he said. "You paid someone else to kill her. You knew he was going to do it."

Mac laid down on the ground and tried to relax. "I don't want to talk about it anymore right now," he said. "I don't want to hear your excuses."

"I didn't really want to kill you," Moffett said.

"But you would have. If I had not gotten out of that car and gotten away from you, you would have. You even shot at me."

"I didn't hit you."

Mac groaned. "Attempted murder, then," he said. "You still pulled the trigger."

"Everything is certain with you, isn't it? There's no in between."

"I don't think you wanted to greet me when you pulled that trigger. You intended to do me bodily harm. Nobody shoots at somebody unless they want to kill them."

Moffett leaned his head back. "I would have never dreamed my life would end up like this," he said. "I met my wife when we were in middle school. I fell in love with her then and we just got married when we got out of high school, went to college together, had children together."

"And now you've thrown all that away. Was it worth it?"

"No. Why aren't you married?"

"I was."

"What happened? Did you have an affair too?"

Mac looked at him. "No, I didn't. I don't want to talk about it. She died."

"Oh, sorry."

"I'll tell you one thing, if I could have her back, I would tell her every day that I love her and I would make sure she knew it."

"How long has she been dead?"

Mac sighed as he looked up through the trees. "She died on nine-eleven in the towers."

Moffett stared at him. Mac knew that silence. He had heard it lots of times. People were always shocked when they heard that. They did not know what to say. "I don't understand people like you," Mac said. "You have everything and you throw it all away for something stupid."

Mac was glad that he had rendered the man speechless. He closed his eyes. He was tired of talking. As he relaxed, his ankle ached. He could not stay awake any longer…

"Ouch!" Don said as he slapped at a mosquito. "That's the fifth time! I can see it now…West Nile Virus!"

"These mosquitoes probably don't see enough people to have that in them," Danny remarked.

"Who knows where it comes from?"

"It comes from the blood they suck." Danny squatted as they were coming into the marsh. "He definitely came this way. The prints are definite and there are two sets."

"So, Moffett is in there too," Don said as he looked into the marsh.

They kept following the footprints until they came to the water that Mac had gone through. "He must have gone in there," Danny said.

"Do we have to go in that?" Don asked.

"If we want to find him."

They waded into the water and finally swam out on the other side. They found Mac's prints on the others side along with Moffett's. "That guy is determined to find him," Danny remarked.

"If he went through all this, he definitely is," Don agreed. "Let's stop a minute."

They stopped and Don took off his boots one at a time and poured the water out. Danny almost laughed. He did the same thing however. "I guess that's a little better," he said.

"I hate walking in wet shoes," Don said.

"You just hate nature," Danny said. "You've been complaining ever since we got out here."

"Hey, I'm a city guy. I like concrete, not squishy, muddy, wet ground that seeps into your shoes."

"You're a trip, that's what you are. Wait till I tell the others what a whiner you are."

"You wouldn't."

"I would. Surely you know me better than that."

"I don't care if you do tell them."

Soon, they came to the stand of cedars. Danny studied the prints on the ground. "Hey, it looks like someone crawled out from under there," he said as he saw where Mac had crawled out from under the cedars. "It doesn't look like he went in here though."

"Maybe he circled around trying to confuse the other," Don suggested.

They circled around the area and found where Mac had gone into the pine straw. Danny looked toward the clearing. "He must have gone this way," he said.

They searched until they found prints again and then followed them into the woods on the other side of the clearing…

Mac woke with a start. He realized he had fallen asleep. How long had he slept? He looked at Moffett whose head was drooping down in sleep too. Mac lay back again. He was exhausted. He did not want to get back up on this painful ankle and walk anymore. Maybe they would find him here if he just stayed still…

Don found the place where the bullet had struck the tree at the edge of the clearing. "Looks like someone shot at someone," he said.

They drew their weapons as they moved into the forest. It was easy to see where Mac and Moffett had struggled. "I wonder who won that fight," Don said.

"I'm sure we would be looking at Mac's body right now if Moffett had won," Danny replied.

"So, maybe Mac won…but then where are they?"

They looked further into the woods. "They're still moving that way."

"Why is he going this way?"

"Must have gotten turned around," Danny said. "Probably didn't know which way to go."

"That would be easy."

They kept following Mac's trail until they came to the stream. "I think they stopped for water here," Don said.

"Sounds like a good idea," Danny said as he took a bottle of water from his pack and drank it all.

Don drank some water too while they searched for the way Mac had gone from here. They heard the helicopter circling overhead. "There's no way they can see anyone down in this," Don said. "It's too thick."

"That's why we're here," Danny replied.

Mac was startled out of his sleep again when he heard something in the woods. He looked up to realize the day was already afternoon. How long had he slept? He sat up and got his weapon ready. There was something coming through the woods. He swallowed hard. "What do you think it is?" Moffett whispered. "Get me loose from this tree."

Mac looked at him and moved over beside him. "Just relax," he whispered. "If something tries to attack us, I'll shoot it."

"You know if you shoot a bear, it will get even angrier and tear you apart!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Get me loose from here and let's run for it!"

"I can't run."

Mac got his weapon ready as he heard something coming closer. Then he heard someone say something. They both stared into the woods. "That's no animal," Moffett whispered. "It's somebody."

"Yeah, the last time I checked, bears didn't talk," Mac remarked.

"Funny."

They heard someone say, "At least Mac was not trying to hide his trail…"

Mac stood up. He knew that voice. "Danny!" he called. He did not know if he had ever been so relieved. "Danny!"

Don and Danny stopped in their tracks. "Mac!" Danny called.

"Yes, it's me!"

Don and Danny hurried through the woods and finally came to where Mac was. Mac sighed and just dropped his weapon. He almost collapsed on the ground. "Hey!" Don exclaimed as he grabbed Mac's arm. "Are you alright?"

Mac opened his eyes. "Take me home," he said.

"You got it."

Danny got Moffett loose and cuffed him again. Moffett looked at Mac. "Well, I know we were on opposite sides," Moffett said. "But I wish I had served with you."

Mac stared at him a moment. "Thanks," he said. He leaned heavily on Don as they walked on toward the highway. He could not wait to get out of here.

Mac stumbled and Don almost fell with him. "Hold on there," Don said. "We'll be there soon."

Mac thought they could not get there quick enough. Moffett looked at Danny. "Why don't you help him?" Moffett asked. "I'm not going to try to run. I'm going to face what I did."

"You just walk in front of us," Danny said. He got on the other side of Mac and they walked on.

Don thought Mac was walking in his sleep part of the time. He looked at the wound on Mac's head with the dried blood caked in his hair along with everything else he had picked up in the marsh. He did not think he had ever seen Mac so filthy and exhausted. He wished they could carry Mac out of here. He was stumbling on his left leg. "Your leg hurt?" Don asked.

"My ankle," Mac answered without lifting his head. "It's sprained.

It took them another two hours to get out of the woods. Mac was so glad to see something besides those woods. Lindsey was there with the others and there was an ambulance waiting for them. Mac almost fell. "Just a little further," Danny said.

Lindsey ran to them. "Mac, are you alright?" she asked.

Mac did not answer. "He's exhausted," Don said.

"The chopper couldn't see anything."

"Yeah, we know. It was too thick."

They got Mac over to the ambulance. He almost fell onto the stretcher. He was asleep before they put him into the ambulance. Don got into the ambulance with Moffett since he needed to be doctored too. He was glad this was over too. He looked at Mac on the stretcher. He had never seen Mac so willing to go to the hospital. He knew he must be totally drained. Don was tired himself. It had taken most of the day to walk through all that marsh and woods. He had no desire to go back either…

As Mac was recovering in the hospital, he was planning what he would do when he got out of there. He was going sailing so he could be alone on the ocean. He was going to sail over to Hawaii and find an island that no one knew existed and stay there a while and sort out his feelings. He was tired and he would take some time to figure himself out. He had lost himself and he had to find who he was again…


End file.
